The Children of Oki-shima
by Pyeknu
Summary: Sequel to "Phoenix From the Ashes." Saved literally from death, the Shiroiwa girls find themselves in a universe with aliens and metahumans. Unable to trust anyone, they depend on Mizuho — and a weapon beyond imagination — to protect them. Mizuho is determined to get their male classmates back…with help from the Moroboshi siblings and the Earth Defence Force. Will they succeed?
1. The Mistress of the Staff of Gihan

Aboard the Avalon bioroid factory (marooned on Phentax Twelve), inside Gestation Tower #98, Wednesday 17 February 2010 (Japan time: Two hours after midnight)…

"**_DISOBEDIENT ROBOT! GIVE THAT BACK!_**"

An inhuman roar escaped the shapely teenage woman in the dark grey, full-sleeve gestation suit as she spun around, the two metre-long staff in her hand swinging with her to allow its glowing crystal head to point at the wide-eyed elderly man trying to level some sort of pistol on her. Before he could come close to locking his weapon on target, the staff's crystal glowed bright white for a second before a bolt of energy lashed out to rip into his body just below his heart. A wild shriek escaped him as his body literally BURNED UP from inside out, leaving nothing behind but ashes.

Silence then fell…save for the clatter of the man's weapon as it fell to the deck nearby. Not to mention the frightened sobs from the young man cowering close to the sliding double doors leading into this circular room…and the gasped breaths from the young woman who had — in her mind — been standing not seconds before in the middle of her hastily-made magical seal on Oki-shima, praying to her Master for His help to survive the most horrid thing ever devised by man to bring harm to his fellow man.

_The Program_.

Taking a deep breath as she felt a surge of raw power flood her from the strange device now in her hands, Inada Mizuho straightened herself as she moved to look around. She was quick to recognise several things that clearly marked this odd place as some sort of laboratory. Even more so — much to the young woman's total horror — there were man-sized cylindrical tubes made of some thick type of glass…and each of them was mounted on top of machines that were as large as the family trunk her parents had in their bedroom back in Shiroiwa. Power conduits led from each chamber to heavy-duty wall sockets in the smooth curved bulkhead lining all sides of this room.

To Mizuho's complete outrage, all her female classmates were in twenty of those tubes.

Nine other tubes were empty.

And there was one tube that was on its side, the bottom end open.

No doubt, she realised, that had been where SHE had been placed.

But why…?

What in Fate's name WAS this evil place…?

Why…?!

WHY?!

_**Do not be afraid, Controller.**_

Mizuho perked on hearing that powerful male voice echo in her ears and in her mind. A strangled gasp escaped the young man nearby, making Mizuho's pale blue eyes snap over to gaze intently at him for a second before she looked up at the deckhead, noting this place was about double the height of any interior space she had been in before.

_**None will harm you. As you are now my Controller, I will not allow it.**_

Mizuho blinked, her eyes then focusing on the glowing crystal at one end of the strange staff she held in her hand. It had noticeably pulsed when those words had echoed in her ears. "Master…?" she gasped, her eyes tearing with delight.

_**No, Controller Inada Mizuho. I am known as the Staff of Gihan. It was my power that brought the souls of you and all your classmates through the Veil of the Te'a from your time period and dimension of birth in the Multiverse to this place and time that you have just awoken in. Also, I was used to scan your old body's DNA to allow the body you are now inhabiting to be as close of a clone as this bioroid factory you now stand on can create.**_

"'Bioroid'…?"

Mizuho's head snapped over. "Satomi!" She then walked over to scan the computer terminal-like apparatus at the base of the tube holding Noda Satomi in place. Gazing at it, Mizuho blinked as she stared at the controls — which were marked not only in Japanese kana and kanji but some strange square glyph-like symbols that made no sense to her whatsoever — for a moment before she snarled, "How do I release you…?"

**_The red button to your left._**

Mizuho's finger instantly tapped the button. Hydraulics then echoed in the chamber as the tube holding Satomi lowered onto its back before the bottom plate opened with a gentle _hiss!_ Once it was clear, Mizuho placed the Staff aside as she reached into the tube to pull Satomi out. In doing so, she was quick to sense the air pressure that was keeping her classmate suspended away from the walls of the tube. "Are you well, my friend?" Mizuho asked as she reached for Satomi's hand to pull her all the way out.

"_**MIZUHO-SAMA! BE CAREFUL! DON'T TOUCH SATOMI-SAMA'S SKIN!**_"

Both girls gasped in shock on hearing that shouted warning, and then they gazed on the young man nearby. Noting he was physically about their age, they were quick to see that he seemed totally human…save for the elegantly tapered ears peeking out from under the bangs of his shaggy short brown hair. He was also dressed in what appeared to be some type of school gakuran straight from Japan, similar to the style boys who attended Shiroiwa Junior High School wore to classes. He was quite effeminate, almost to the point where he could easily disguise himself as a girl with the right sort of clothing. Mizuho paused as she gazed intently at him, and then she blinked before nodding, reaching in to grasp Satomi's lower arms above the ends of the sleeves of the skin-tight bodysuit both girls now wore. With a pull, Class 3B's resident brainiac was yanked clear of the tube she had awoken in and back on her feet. "Dōmo, Mizuho-chan!"

"No need for thanks, my friend," Mizuho stated as she reached for the Staff, and then she headed over to the tube holding one of the two girls in her class whom she cared for most of all, Etō Megumi. "Do you understand what this device said just now?"

"I think so," Satomi said as she reached over to the folded pair of glasses that were on a table nearby. Slipping them on, she relaxed as her vision — she suffered from myopia — instantly cleared up, and then she moved to tap the control to open the chamber holding Nakagawa Yūka in place. "When we would have died on Oki-shima, that thing snared our souls before we would have passed through that 'veil of the Te'a' it talked about and brought us to this place. These are cloned bodies we have now," she concluded as the tube holding Yūka fell onto its back and opened. "If I understand the word correctly, 'bioroid' is a contraction of 'biological android.'"

"We're MACHINES?!" Yūka demanded as Satomi moved to pull her out.

_**No, Nakagawa Yūka. Your new body is as organic as the body you inhabited before Sakaki Yūko accidentally poisoned you in an attempt to kill Nanahara Shūya out of her belief that he was a 'demon boy' who threatened all of you in the lighthouse on Oki-shima.**_

Both girls jolted, and then Yūka spun around to glare at a now-blushing Sakaki Yūko. "YŪKO NO BAKA!" she spat out as Mizuho moved to pull Megumi free of her tube. "What the heck possessed you to do something like _that_ to Shūya-kun?!"

"Yūko-sama believed she saw Shūya-sama strike down Tatsumichi-sama…"

Eyes locked on the alien — to the Shiroiwa girls — boy nearby for a moment. They were quick to see the sympathy shine in his eyes…though it was currently matched to a horrid realisation that he clearly had not been prepared to experience. Considering that, Satomi blinked before she sighed. "You! Sit there!" she ordered as she pointed at the boy, and then indicated a nearby chair. "If you somehow know about us — and by the sounds of it, you do — you know what we've just been through!"

In a flash, he was seated and looking very meek. "Hai, Satomi-sama!"

Satomi blinked before she smirked, and then she moved to release Kotohiki Kayoko as Yūka moved to release Matsui Chisato and Mizuho finished pulling Megumi out before the former moved to release Minami Kaori and the latter moved to release Tendō Mayumi. "So we're alive and in some freaky laboratory in some other dimension now," Megumi said as she tapped the button to open Mayumi's chamber. As a passionate fan of _Star Trek_ — it was one of the few American shows that had been allowed to be televised in the Greater East Asia Republic thanks to its universal message of peace and brotherhood for all species — she had a good idea what was going on right now. "Why are we here?!"

_**You were drawn to this dimension because the man the Controller just terminated desired to create as accurate replicas of yourself and your peers as could be done, Etō Megumi**_, the Staff dutifully answered. **_The exact phrase the man used before I reached through the Veil of the Te'a to retrieve all your souls was this: 'Program them as if they were the real people themselves.' By what I could interpret of his inner feelings at the time concerning how accurate he wished such replicas to be, I logically concluded the best way to comply with that request was to bring your souls from the very moment in space-time each of you were about to expire and pass through the Te'a to here._**

"For what purpose?" Satomi asked as she finished pulling Kayoko clear, and then she moved to open the chamber holding Ogawa Sakura in place.

_**To be companions to a group of young Niphentaxians your age who are fans of what — to them — is a tragic fictional novel, movie and manga series based on your adventure on Oki-shima, Noda Satomi. It is called**_** Battle Royale_. As you are aware, that is the nickname of the legislation the government of the Greater East Asia Republic passed in the Third Year of the Republic to initiate Combat Experiment Program Sixty-eight._**

"So they're…really _them_?!" the young boy asked.

_**That is correct, Geran dai-Farosh.**_

The girls paused as they gazed at him, and then Yūka walked over to kneel in front of him, gazing into his dark brown eyes. "So you wanted a bunch of cute girlfriends, right?" she coyly asked as she reached over to tap his nose.

_**Be careful in doing that, Nakagawa Yūka.**_

She paused. "Why?!"

_**Your new body possesses considerable psionic capabilities**_, the Staff explained. _**A tactile form of telepathy and a receptive form of empathy are two such capabilities you possess now. If you actually touch him, you will be able to interpret his thoughts as easily as you can read a book. Further, upon your enduring what is normally referred to as the 'Awakening,' you will also develop a subconscious ability to sense the Power of the Te'a within all around you.**_

"And this 'Te'a' is?" Satomi asked as the others moved to get everyone else free.

**_The eternal echo of the Power that sundered the Primal Atom thirteen billion years ago and allowed the Multiverse to exist as it is now, Noda Satomi_**, the Staff answered. _**The race that created the Avalon bioroid factory we are aboard now and devices such as I believed such a Power was divine in nature. Thus, their term for that Power; it translates in your language as 'That Which Is Above mortal understanding.'**_

"It's like our belief in the Kami, you mean," Kayoko stated as she opened the chamber holding Nakagawa Noriko in place. "The Divine Power in all things."

**_Correct, Kotohiki Kayoko._**

"So where are the guys in our class?" Kaori demanded as she moved to release Yahagi Yoshimi from her chamber. "What about them?!"

_**This factory has one limitation, Minami Kaori. It can only create female bioroids.**_

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

"I just can't imagine any of the guys — even Shō-kun — as GIRLS!" Yūka stated.

People gaped at her — even a wide-eyed Geran — and then they laughed…

* * *

_**The Children of Oki-shima**_  
by Fred Herriot

Proofreading done by Rashaan Butler, Rose1948, Wolfman-053 and Robert Geiger

Based on _Urusei Yatsura_, created by Takahashi Rumiko; _Ikkitōsen_, created by Shiozaki Yūji; and _Battle Royale_, created by Takami Kōshun (as interpreted by Taguchi Masayuki and Keith Giffen).

Including characters and situations from _Mahō Sensei Negima_, created by Akamatsu Ken; _Dōkyūsei_, created by ELF; the _Stargate_ franchise, created by Roland Emmerich and Dean Devlin; _Kōtetsu Tenshi Kurumi_, created by Kaishaku (Ōta Hitoshi and Shichinohe Terumasa); _Petit Roid 3_, created by Kōda Tomohiro; _Sayonara Zetsubō-sensei_, created by Kumeta Kōji; and _Harry Potter_, created by Joanna K. Rowling.

Sequel to _Phoenix From the Ashes_ by Fred Herriot, which is derived from the fanfic _The Bet: Crippled_, written by Gregg Sharp. This story also contains characters and situations from the fanfic series _Urusei Yatsura - The Senior Year_, created by Mike Smith and Fred Herriot.

* * *

**WRITER'S INTRODUCTION**

_While I originally intended to bring the_ Battle Royale _cast into the universe of_ Phoenix From the Ashes _in the story_ Avalonians and Questors_, a plot bunny provoked by a recent hospital stay — not to mention my curiosity towards how a relationship between Moroboshi Ataru and one of several of the_ Battle Royale _female cast might actually play out — made me write this instead. Save for the teaser before the title blurb, this story begins about two weeks after the end of the main story of_ PFtA_. _

_This story effectively takes off from Part 57 of _PFtA_ and Inada Mizuho's cameo appearance there._

* * *

Gestation Tower #98 on the Avalon bioroid factory (at Lagrange Point One between the Earth and the Moon), Monday 26 July 2010 (Japan time: After dawn)…

"Spyin' on Ataru again, huh?"

A knowing smirk crossed the face of the only known Japanese follower of Zoroastrianism…to the knowledge of the twenty-one former students of Shiroiwa Junior High School from the 2001-01 school year. "As would you, friend Hirono," Inada Mizuho stated as she gazed in amusement at Shimizu Hirono. "If you wish, of course…?"

The taller girl with the spiky grey-black hair and the cloudy grey eyes jolted on hearing that offer from her friend and former classmate, and then she quickly waved it off as Mizuho calmly lifted the Staff of Gihan off the deck. They now stood in the small lounge located at the top of the three kilometre-high and three hundred metre-wide cylindrical gestation tower, one of a hundred such units located within the hull of the six hundred cubic kilometre structure. Possessing a grand view of surrounding space with the Earth "ahead" of them in the far distance and the Moon at their "backs," it was the place claimed by Mizuho as her private living quarters over the last five months she and her classmates had been in this dimension. It was still quite spartan; even if the twenty-one girls that called Tower #98 their temporary home had access to all sorts of replicator units to produce food and clothes for them, many things precluded their cluttering up the place with all sorts of useless knickknacks.

For the majority of the girls, that was driven by terrors — ultimately stemming from the wild cauldron of emotions their participation in _The Program_ uncorked from their inner souls — that had haunted them from the day they had awoken in this place.

Mizuho wasn't haunted by such fears, of course.

Her possession of the Staff of Gihan — a seventeen millennia-old _Haijo-ju_ that had been designed to serve as the ultimate personal weapons system — had opened the eyes of the once-delusional and clinically schizophrenic daughter of a pair of scientists who were practicing Roman Catholics to the true vastness of the Master's Creation itself.

Since it had been Inada Mizuho who had ensured her friends would never be enslaved by the Niphentaxians thanks to her seizing the Staff from the control of Geran dai-Farosh's grandfather — who had looked on Avalonians such as they as "mere robots" fit only for sexual slavery — the day the Moroboshi siblings and their gallant allies from Noukiios and Yehisril had come to liberate the bioroid race, she had been forced to bend herself backward to ensure those selfsame friends would feel safe and secure.

Even if she wanted to scream her heart out at times at some of the idiot mistakes the others had made when it came to the unique circumstances of their being here.

"You desire him as well, Hirono," Mizuho warned.

Hirono blinked before she sighed. "So do you, Mizu."

"Do you blame me?"

A shake of the head and a hearty chuckle. "Nah! After seein' what that guy did for all the girls he and his sisters saved from those Niphentaxian assholes in the month or so they stayed aboard before they headed back to Tomobiki, you'd have to be as totally insensitive as Mitsu once was to not appreciate a man like that."

Mizuho breathed out. "Aye, that's true." A hum. "Perhaps…"

"What?"

"Perhaps when we go down to Earth next time, we can visit Tomobiki."

Hirono jolted in shock. "Are you NUTS, Inada?!" she demanded.

And it was an understandable question from her, Mizuho knew. The most profound fear of her friends — stemming from an understandable mistake Noda Satomi had made when she had learned about all the laws of interdimensional travel — was being discovered and forced to return to the dimension of their birth and brief first lives…and in such a way that would leave them vulnerable to the authorities of the Greater East Asia Republic, who certainly wouldn't like the idea of those they had condemned to die appearing ALIVE and well. While Mizuho understood that since their present bodies had been made aboard the factory in THIS dimension five months before — thus ensuring they could live here for the rest of their potentially quite long second lives — the others were firmly convinced that they would eventually have to go home sooner or later. To ensure it wouldn't happen until they felt ready to do something like that, they convinced Mizuho — who was, despite her knowing the truth of the situation, still quite glad to do that — to use the Staff to shield them from any potential detection from the factory's central control tower some kilometres away. To say anything of anyone who might be familiar with Takami Kōshun's dystopia novel _Battle Royale_, much less the movies and manga series inspired by that novel.

Still, even if they were determined to survive regardless of the odds against them given their current circumstances, the twenty-one girls currently residing in Tower #98 were all still fifteen and sixteen year-old teenagers with their own desires and dreams. Chief of those desires, naturally, was discovering those curious creatures known as "boys." And while many dreamt of the chance of coming together with their male classmates — once Geran and his friends located the Genesis Wand of Parah and found a way to override the factory's standard programming to allow male bioroid bodies to be made — such as Nanahara Shūya, there was one other man who had caught the eye of several of them in the last five months that had given them wonderful wet dreams: Moroboshi Ataru.

Watching the living avatar of the Herald of All Endings — whom Mizuho had come to see as the aspect of her own beloved Master, the Wise Lord Ahura Mazdā, who controlled when mortals would pass through the Veil of the Te'a at the end of their lives — work himself almost to exhaustion over a period of four weeks helping over TWO BILLION just-freed Avalonians recover from years of abuse, it had been a simple conclusion for many to make.

"That is no boy!" Sōma Mitsuko had succinctly put it one day. "That is a MAN!"

"He's got my seal of approval!" a gushing Nakagawa Yūka declared.

"He's just as wonderful as Shūya-kun!" Matsui Chisato once swooned.

"There's GOT to be a version of him back home!" Tanizawa Haruka added.

"Can't we just take Ataru with us when we go home?!" Etō Megumi wondered with a heartfelt sigh.

"The Master has blessed him," Mizuho herself had stated. "Where he goes — no matter how many the Dark One hurls at him — I will be there for him."

The others' comments — even from those girls who desired men from their class such as Nanahara Shūya, Yamamoto Kazuhiko and Sugimura Hiroki — had been just as glowing.

"Hiromi-sama, her parents, her lovers and her children have gone off to Rishiri-tō to transform the late Nagaiwakai-sama's mansion into a working residence for many of our sisters still forced to live aboard the factory, Hirono," Mizuho then stated. "Negako-sama is spending some private time with her beloved Kaga-sama and some of the other Steel Angels who live in Japan near the headquarters site of the Academy of Advanced Sciences, where Diana-sama lives. Tariko-sama and Shinobu-sama have gone on a training trip with their beloved Kanami-sama and Kanami-sama's siblings to the mountains of Kyūshū to prepare themselves for the Great Fighters Tournament the noble tōshi of the Three Kingdoms of old intend to engage in at the start of next month, they being trained by both Grandmaster Happōsai and the Elder Grandmaster Cologne. Shikuko-sama and Miyako-sama are enjoying some private time with their families down in Guam before they return to Tomobiki to participate in the Tournament. Of course, Ataru-sama's foolish parents are no longer of any real concern. That would give us about a week…"

"Alone with Ataru?"

A nod. "Aye."

Hirono felt a lump form in her throat and her legs weaken as she considered what spending a _**week**_ alone with Moroboshi Ataru would be like. "Damn…"

"Of course, I could persuade Satomi to take interest here," Mizuho then teased.

"**_HEY!_**"

Gay laughter escaped the would-be warrior priestess on seeing the former teenage prostitute fluster in anger at the idea of _Satomi_ taking Ataru away from her…

* * *

Tomobiki, the Moroboshi home, that moment…

"AH-CHOO!"

A moan escaped the young man now rising from the futon in the second floor bedroom that he now shared with his current live-in lovers. As he felt himself fully awaken, Moroboshi Ataru frowned on sensing no wonderfully warm female bodies pressing against his before he sighed. "They won't start school in Tomobiki until September," he muttered as he rubbed his face. "Their families live in Bunkyō. Given how much they were preparing for Shikuko and Miyako facing their 'fates' before I met them…"

A sigh escaped him as he stood up and moved to put the futon away before he slipped a yukata over his body. Heading out of his bedroom to the hallway that formed the west balcony of the expanded living room/lounge of the old guest house, he then made his way to the ground floor and the bathroom there — located right under the west end of his bedroom, between a new family furo room and the hallway connecting to the family dōjō — to perform his morning ablutions. That was soon done, seeing him return to his bedroom to slip on a pair of jeans and a Tomobiki High Jackrabbits T-shirt before he headed into the living room. He didn't even blink on seeing the rather large _mike_-furred cat-ghost that was sitting in the middle of the room beside the kotatsu he had with him all the time. "Osu!" he called out to Kotatsuneko before he moved to prepare breakfast.

Soon enough, he was enjoying some toinjang-tchigae with steamed wild rice and a serving of kimch'i and other vegetables on the side. Kotatsuneko prepared some koch'ugaru-spiced insam-ch'a for his host, which Ataru accepted with a nod of thanks, and then moved to prepare some sencha for himself. "Sure is quiet here, isn't it?" Ataru mused.

The great cat-ghost nodded in understanding, and then he pointed off to the southeast. Ataru blinked before he sighed. "Cherry's sensing something, right?" the former Terran tag race champion then asked. At his guest's nod, Ataru breathed out, "Typical. I'm all alone in this house and something creeps up to cause problems."

Kotatsuneko shrugged. "You don't think it'll be a problem?" Ataru wondered.

A shake of the head before the cat-ghost pointed a paw up towards the ceiling. Ataru blinked before he sighed. "Sensed it, huh?" At Kotatsuneko's nod, his host shrugged. "It was some girl on the bioroid factory that I ran across when we were curb-stomping the Niphentaxians back in February. She was trapped with a whole bunch of friends in Gestation Tower #98 after I terminally punched the clock of Otako-chan's so-called 'sister.' I wanted to help them, but she told me to stay away. Don't know why. Didn't find out, either; right after that, Onē-san and Kyech got the recall under way and we just got deluged by all the Avalonians that place made over the last century." Ataru sighed. "Never really thought about it until we were getting back from Yaminokuni and I felt that ki flow into me again. That's when I remembered her."

Kotatsuneko gave him a surprised look. "Yeah! Me! The guy who would drop anything to meet a pretty girl!" Ataru admitted with an embarrassed chuckle before a hum escaped him. "Still, since I do have the time now…" he trilled out.

The cat-ghost nodded…

* * *

A half-hour later, the west gate of the Moroboshi property opened to allow Ataru to step out. As he locked the door and activated the several blood ward defences Negako had installed into the walls of the property to ensure no one could break in on a whim, he then tensed on sensing a familiar presence approach him from the southwest. "Osu, Kumiko-chan!" he called out as he looked over his shoulder at his classmate.

Gekasawa Kumiko smiled. "Ohayō, Ataru-kun," the raven-haired girl with the dark brown eyes — she had been voted the prettiest girl in Class 1-4 sometime after Mendō Shūtarō had joined them the previous fall — called back as she came up to him. She was dressed casually in a pair of form-fitting jeans and a cardigan sweater over a blouse that did little to hide the stunning figure she had underneath. "So how is it?"

"Lonely!" he moaned as he made a "woe is me" gesture with his hand, that making her laugh. "Woke up this morning all alone!" He winked at her. "Of course…"

"I would gladly let you ravage me for days on end, Ataru-kun," Kumiko said as she looped her arm around his. "But I don't want to deal with Shikuko-sempai or Miyako-san pounding me into protoplasm for horning in on their man, so I can't help you there."

Ataru gave her an exaggerated sigh. "True."

"So where are you off to today?"

"Up to the factory," he admitted as he waved her down the street. "I just recalled someone I talked to back in February when the girls and I were busy stealing the place from Ōgi's morons and I want to go check up on her. So…"

"Off to Shasta-san's place!" she declared.

"Hai!"

And with that, they were off, chatting away…

* * *

Nearby…

"There he is."

"That fuckin' asshole!"

"Thinks he's king shit now that he saved all those skin-jobs…"

"Let's go."

And with that, the five young men moved to tail Ataru and Kumiko…

* * *

The bioroid factory…

**_Controller, there is a problem._**

Mizuho blinked. "What sort of problem?"

**_I detect five Terran males now moving to clandestinely pursue Moroboshi Ataru._**

The would-be warrior-priestess jolted on hearing that, and then she hissed, "Show me!"

A holographic screen appeared before her…

* * *

Tomobiki…

"Ataru! Kumiko! Osu!"

"Osu!"

"Ohayō, Megane!"

Walking up now from the general direction of his family home was Aisuru "Megane" Satoshi, the former leader of Lum's Stormtroopers. "So what are you two doing this fine morning?" he asked as Ataru and Kumiko came up to him.

"Going to go visit the factory and find out about someone who was in one of the gestation towers when we hit the place back in February," Ataru explained. "After I killed Otako-chan's so-called 'sister,' I felt some weird energy radiating from one of the gestation towers there, so I wanted to check it out. Some girl screamed at me to stay away. She sounded frightened beyond belief. And…" He then hummed.

"What?" Kumiko asked.

"Just remembered it now, Kumiko-chan: She actually called me 'Lord Ataru.'"

Silence.

"'Lord Ataru?'" Megane repeated.

A nod. "Yeah. Really struck me strange. Atop that…" Another hum. "Now that I'm recalling what happened that day, something about her was really odd."

"What do you mean?" Kumiko wondered.

"She called the other girls in that place her 'friends.'"

More silence.

"That IS weird!" Megane stated after he and Kumiko exchanged a look.

"Yeah! Avalonians — at least those actually born on the factory — always call each other 'sister,'" she confirmed with a nod of agreement. "What could it mean?"

Ataru sighed. "Well, it's time to find out…"

"**_ATARU! LOOK OUT!_**"

An instant later, the shockwave of a terrific blast slammed into the three Tomobiki High students, sending them tumbling towards a nearby concrete property fence. Ataru was quick to angle himself so that he could protect Kumiko with his body, employing the Stone-Body Shield Defence to ensure she wasn't affected by the pressure wave…and with a twist of his waist, he made sure it was HIS body that slammed into the wall in lieu of his classmate's. As he moved to gently push the stunned Kumiko off him, Ataru was quick to note that Megane had curled up on himself, his glasses having been knocked clear from his face before the lenses could shatter and possibly wreck his eyes. Ataru then got up, gazing in the direction of the explosion…and then he stopped.

"Oh, shit…!"

* * *

Mahora (north of Tōkyō), the Mahora Academy headmaster's office, that moment…

"**_KONOE-SAMA!_**"

The headmaster of the Mahora Academy tensed on hearing that, and then he turned to gaze on the panting woman who had just teleported herself into his office. Quietly thanking the Fates that none of his non-magical staff had been present, Konoe Konoemon then breathed out, "My heavens! Whatever could be the problem, Kuzunoha-kun?!"

Taking a deep breath, Kuzunoha Tōko bowed apologetically to the elderly arch-mage. "Forgive me, Konoe-sama! But we just detected a massive burst of ki energy emitting from somewhere close to the Earth Angel's residence in Tomobiki! It's **_her_**!"

Konoe Konoka's grandfather gaped. Given what had been going on in various magical enclaves on Earth — and all across Nerio — in the last five months, there was only ONE person that simple pronoun currently represented. "That young lady with the energy staff who's appeared from time to time across the planet since March?!" he demanded. "The one who likes visiting the dragon reserves and all the other magical enclaves on the weekends?! The one who assisted Lincoln-daitōryō in killing off all those vampires at Azkaban?! The one whose total power is believed to rival Raeburn-shihan's power?!"

A rapid nod. "Hai! The energy readings our sensors detected match this woman's staff! Nijūin-sensei and Gandolfini-sensei went off to look in on her right now!"

"Did you contact Negako-sam-…?"

The telephone on the headmaster's desk then rang. Gazing at the caller ID on the display there, Konoe chuckled in amusement before lifting the handset off the cradle. "Moshi-moshi, this is Konoe," he called into it. "Is that you, Negako-sama?"

Hearing that, Tōko breathed out in relief…

* * *

Back in Tomobiki…

"_**HALT! THIS IS THE KANTŌ MAGICAL ASSOCIATION! IN THE NAME OF THE HEAVENLY SOVEREIGN, CEASE WHAT YOU'RE DOING AND REMAIN WHERE YOU ARE OR YOU'LL BE STUNNED UNCONSCIOUS!**_"

A tired sigh. "Tony, was _that_ really necessary?!"

Hearing that comment from his fellow teacher and mage, Tony Gandolfini jerked before he warily gazed at Nijūin Mitsuru…who had teleported himself down from the staff office at the Mahora Academy with a travel mug full of tea! "Mitsuru…!"

"I apologise for disturbing your quiet morning, noble warrior-mages."

People — including a dozen or so from nearby homes — blinked on hearing that rich voice with its classical speech and Sanuki-Shikoku accent, and then they turned to gaze on the woman now standing in the middle of a circle of burnt and melted asphalt about two metres wide. Sprawled around her now were five unconscious boys about Ataru's age, dressed in casual clothes. As Kurumi helped the dazed Megane get back to his feet, Ataru took a deep breath as he focused his attention on the newcomer.

And the ancient battle staff with its glowing focusing crystal now in her hand.

"The Staff of Gihan…!" he moaned.

That made Kumiko and Megane perk. "What was that, Ataru-kun?" the former asked.

A sigh. "Our friend's weapon, Kumiko-chan," Ataru explained as he waved to the pretty girl — he put her at about fifteen years of age — with the bobcut dark grey hair and the pale blue eyes, dressed now in a medium blue seifuku of a cut and style similar to what was worn during the winter months at Tomobiki High School. "It's a seventeen millennia-old weapon of mass destruction that was built by a loon on Sagussa when he dreamt up a way to replicate a Power Jewel like the one Raeburn-shōshō has."

Both his classmates — and all those who could hear him — paled on hearing that before they turned to gaze warily at the young woman in question. She — after confirming with her eyes and empathy that the five monsters who had dared try to attack the truly handsome and noble Moroboshi Ataru, honourable servant of the Herald of All Endings, were down and unconscious — took a deep breath before raising the Staff off the ground. A burst of energy later, the street at her feet was repaired…not to mention all the cracked windows in nearby homes and Megane's glasses as well. As people around her then began to excitedly whisper about how nice she had been — a considerable change from all the OTHER times weird events rocked Tomobiki — to do that, she made a gesture with her fingers to literally _float_ the spectacles into Megane's hand.

Seeing that, Ataru tried not to wince. _Shit! She's fully bonded with that thing!_ he thought as his eyes locked on Gandolfini and Nijūin; Ataru had met them the day Negako went to Mahora to retrieve Shichinohe Kaga from the storage chamber deep under Library Island back in May to begin the process of allowing her would-be lover the chance to become truly human. _If these two guys push her buttons the wrong way, she'll…!_

A familiar ringing noise then echoed in the air around them. "Who…?"

People watched as the tell-tale shower of a materialiser made someone appear quite close to the Staff's current welder. Said person was about the same age, with wavy brown hair centre-parted on her head and cut off at mid-neck, possessing a pair of reading glasses over her dark brown eyes. She was also dressed in the same model of seifuku the Staff's controller wore…and had a Peacemaker rifle in her hands.

"**_MIZUHO! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?!_**" the newcomer demanded.

The welder of the Staff contently smiled. "Fret not about me, friend Satomi," she calmly stated. "I just came here when I sensed the Lord Ataru about to be attacked by these cowardly swine." She contemptuously waved to the unconscious men on the ground around her. "I know not why they would so brazenly attack him, but…"

"Wait a sec'…"

Both gazed at Megane. "You recognise these beasts, Master Satoshi?" Mizuho asked.

Megane jerked on being called _that_, and then he chuckled as he scratched the back of his head before waving to the dazed man who was just about to hit Ataru on the back of the head with a tonfā that looked like it was made out of steel. "Yeah! He's Mōri Mototsuku! Old middle school classmate of ours! You remember him, don't you, Ataru?"

Ataru blinked, and then gazed at the man in question for a moment before nodding. "Right! He always liked picking on me because Onē-san was making me hit on the girls all the time! Thought he had the right to dictate how I'd live my life like Shinobu-chan did from time to time!" A hum. "He disappeared just before we graduated from middle school. Forgot all about him, to be honest with you." He gazed on the girl who had struck Mototsuku and his friends down. "Um…Mizuho-chan, right…?"

She turned to gaze on him, her cheeks reddening slightly. Noting that, Kumiko — who had become an Avalonian herself during the mission of the Task Force of the United Nations Earth Defence Force to Yaminokuni weeks before — focused her empathic senses on this girl. Instantly, she detected both the pure love and burning desire emanating from this younger woman's heart towards Ataru. Along the way, she was also quick to sense how OLD this girl was…as if she was Terran by birth and not a pure-born Avalonian who had first seen life on the great factory now in orbit close to the Moon.

But then…

"Are you Niphentaxian?!" Kumiko then demanded.

Hearing that, people instantly tensed; there was not a single person in Tomobiki who didn't know about THEM! As eyes locked on the newcomers, Mizuho shook her head. "My good friend and I are Terran-turned, Lady Kumiko. Just like yourself and your noble and beautiful classmates now attending Tomobiki High School with Lord Ataru."

Megane paled. "You were KIDNAPPED?!"

Horrified gasps echoed from the crowd around them. "In a way, yes, Satoshi-sempai," Satomi then answered. "But in another way, if it didn't happen…"

"We would know the truth of what lies beyond the Veil of the Te'a," Mizuho finished for her friend, gently smiling. "We would know the Master's Final Mystery."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

"Oh, my…!" Gandolfini mused as he stowed his pistols in his personal warp-space pocket. As he and his companion relaxed, the Italian-born Renaissance teacher from Mahora University said, "Well, it's good that you're both alive and well, ladies. If you want, we can help reunite you with your relatives as soon as we can…"

"We have no relatives here, Sensei."

That was Satomi; she was now clicking on the safety of her Peacemaker — Ataru was quick to see that the weapon had been programmed at Level 12, the highest non-lethal power setting the Zephyrite-built assault carbine could use — before slinging it over her shoulder. "Of course we can get you reunited with your relatives, Satomi-kun," Nijūin calmly stated as he walked over to place a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We are not from this dimension, Master Mage Mitsuru."

People jolted, and then they gazed on Mizuho for a moment. "Another _dimension_?!" Gandolfini demanded before he moaned. "Oh, this is just _wonderful_…!"

"When were you girls brought here?" Ataru then demanded.

"The day you and your noble siblings — plus the Great Dragons of Heaven, the Dragons of the Ice Mountains of the North, the Lady K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech, her sister Flower Youth and the warriors of fair Noukiios and bright Yehisril — came to liberate the factory from the control of the so-called 'one true faith,'" Mizuho answered.

He hummed. "The seventeenth of February," he stated before nodding. "Well, we can try to get you safely back home before next February. Can't let you be phased back and wind up in deep space or some other planet if we don't find a way to…"

"Our new bodies were created on the factory itself, Lord Ataru. The factory HERE!"

He jolted…and then he moaned. "Oh, _terrific_…!"

"What do you mean, Ataru-kun?" Kumiko demanded.

"It's the only way to avoid being automatically returned to your proper place in space-time if you are forced through a dimensional breach, Kumiko-chan," Ataru explained as he gazed sadly at his classmate. "Cloned bodies, right?" he then asked as he then looked at Mizuho. After she nodded, he breathed out, "Damn! I take it THAT brought you two and your friends here!" He pointed to the Staff in emphasis.

"Aye," Mizuho affirmed with another nod.

"But why?!" Megane demanded. "What the hell…?!"

"_Battle Royale_."

Silence.

Eyes locked on Satomi; she had muttered those words out.

"Oh, my Heavens…"

More silence.

People were now gazing at a totally-white Nijūin Mitsuru. "Oi!" Gandolfini gasped as he stared at his co-worker. "You mean that disgusting novel that came out…"

"Hai."

Still more silence.

Eyes locked on Satomi, whose eyes now brimmed with tears. Staring at her, an equally-white Ataru could only shake his head in horror and disbelief at the idea of two of his most favourite manga characters actually being HERE, standing in front of him…and ALIVE to boot, having been forced here to serve as potential _**sex slaves**_ to…!

To…

To actually…

No…

No!

_NO! _

_**NEVER!**_

With an inhuman scream, he allowed the cold flames to consume him…

* * *

Rishiri-tō (fifteen kilometres off the northwest coast of Hokkaidō), in a mansion house on the southern slopes of Rishiri-zan, that moment…

"**_ONII-SAN!_**"

Heads snapped over as Moroboshi Hiromi literally curled in on herself, gripping the area over her heart as torrents of scalding pain ripped through her.

"**_BELOVED!_**"

Instantly, the lovers of the reborn second-to-last emperor of the Eastern Hàn Dynasty and the current civilian director of the Earth Defence Force leapt to her side…

* * *

Tomobiki…

"Oh, my Heavens…!" Nijūin moaned out.

As people gaped in awe and fear at the sight of the Cyborg emerging from the cold fire that had seemingly burned away Ataru's organic body, the machine-man seemed to focus on a wide-eyed yet clearly unafraid Satomi and a reverent Mizuho for a second. He then raised his fully-mechanical right arm to allow a baton similar to the stun stick housed in the left arm of an AV98 Ingram patrol labor from _Patlabor_ to emerge. With a casual draw, Ataru pulled the baton out, and then twirled it to hold the business end towards Mizuho and Satomi. On seeing that, Megane paled. "Oi! Ataru! What are you…?!"

"Fret not about this, Master Satoshi," Mizuho stated as she lifted the Staff up and moved to allow the focusing crystal to touch the end of the baton. "Your noble friend merely wishes to confirm that we are who we say we are. So…"

The crystal and the baton made contact…and then Ataru seemed to jerk as the shade of the mechanical parts of his body — which were normally the grey of a storm-laden cloud — turned almost black save for the 愛と事実 inscription on the phoenix-shaped shields covering his lower arms; those remained bright silver. Watching this, people around them cringed as they sensed the aura of pure _**darkness**_ emanating from the transformed Ataru at that moment. A second later, the machine-man pulled the baton away and moved to return it back to its housing. As Mizuho straightened the Staff, people relaxed as the nearly-black shade of Ataru's cybernetic parts faded back to their normal grey shade. "**It is them**," he declared in that echoing metallic voice of his, though many of the people hearing that voice were quick to sense the pain in his words. "**Shiroiwa Junior High School in the town of the same name in Kagawa-ken on Shikoku in the Greater East Asia Republic. Year Three, Class B of the 2000-2001 school year. Girls number One and Seventeen. Inada Mizuho. Noda Satomi.**"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

"**It is really them…**"

People took that in, and then Megane moaned, "Oh, DAMN…!"

"Ye gods above…" Kumiko breathed out.

"_**MOROBOSHI, YOU BASTARD…!**_"

_ZZ-ZARK!_

A wide-eyed Mōri Mototsuku — who had surged up to bash down Ataru with his metal tonfā — screamed out as a bolt of energy slammed into his right upper arm, shearing it off right under the tip of his deltoid muscle. As people morbidly watched this, a shriek of agony escaped him as he dropped to his knees, his dark eyes gazing on the burnt and cauterised stump of his right arm. As he moaned out in agony, shocked that someone had tried to stop him from killing the lecherous monster that had haunted the lives of everyone in Tomobiki for years, he then felt the metal touch of some sort of pistol muzzle press into the back of his head.

"Next shot goes right between your eyes, asshole!" a woman then snarled.

Ataru slowly turned to gaze on the scowling woman with the spiky short grey-black hair and grey eyes now standing behind his former middle school classmate, a Lawgiver in hand and pointed at the back of Mototsuku's skull. Noting her punkish looks — even if she was dressed like Satomi and Mizuho in the seifuku of Shiroiwa Junior High School — Ataru seemed to exhale, "**Girl Number Ten. Shimizu Hirono.**"

Hirono perked before she gazed on the machine-man. She then relaxed. "So what the fuck's goin' on here, Tomi?!" she asked her classmate with the Peacemaker, her voice deceptively calm yet radiating a level of menace that made many around them quake. "Who the fuck gives this asshole the right to try to brain Ataru with a tonfā?!"

"I don't know, Hirono," Satomi stated as she un-slung her Peacemaker, clicking off the safety along the way. "And if these _gentlemen_ value their lives, they'll tell us."

"**Mototsuku fancied himself a ladies' man and resented my actions — as provoked by Onē-san — when it came to our female classmates, Satomi**," Ataru answered. "**Just before graduation from the last year of middle school in 2009, he decided I no longer deserved to live.**" As people around them gasped in horror — even if all the old beliefs about Ataru were still hard to break, many of them knew the truth of what the Promise of Bunka Go-nen and the insertion of the _Saikō Jinseijutsu_ into Ataru's subconscious mind had ultimately provoked in him…especially after puberty set in — he shrugged. "**Pity he never knew that the magic of the Promise of Bunka Go-nen included a 'self-defence' trigger that would allow Onē-san to take over my body in case of a credible threat to my life. He was beaten quite badly and exposed to the Heart-Blast Touch; that put him into the hospital. No doubt, he wasn't here back in February when Onē-san explained what she had provoked concerning me. Still, if he was here, I doubt he would have believed it.**"

"Well, that's _his_ problem," Kumiko stated as she walked over to place a comforting hand on her transformed classmate's shoulder, and then she gazed contemptuously at the wide-eyed Mototsuku. "We can't leave him like this, though. Mizuho-chan, could…?"

"Speak no more of it, Lady Kumiko."

And with a blast of energy from the Staff, Mototsuku's arm was restored whole. As he gaped in shock on seeing that, the current controller of one of old Sagussa's most dangerous weapons came over to glare intently at him. As he stared at her, the would-be warrior-priestess smiled. It was a grimace with no humour in it whatsoever. "That is the ONLY mercy I will grant you, Master Mototsuku," Mizuho then coldly declared. "The next time you threaten my Lord Ataru in ANY way, shape or form and I learn of it, your life will _**not**_ be worth a single _**rin**_." She then lowered the focusing crystal of the Staff to his face level. "_**NOW BEGONE FROM MY SIGHT, UNWORTHY SWINE!**_"

With a burst of energy, Mototsuku and his friends vanished. As Hirono and Satomi calmly relaxed themselves and clicked on the safeties of their weapons, the two mages from Mahora exchanged looks before Nijūin cleared his throat. "Um…"

"They are now enjoying an early morning swim in Tōkyō Bay, Master Mitsuru. In a place where they need not fret about accidentally drowning," Mizuho stated. "One must seek out those who would lower themselves to such levels of bestiality and smite them without hesitation to ensure they never bring innocents to harm. Agreed?"

Hearing that, Ataru seemed to sigh as he allowed the cold fire to consume him again, restoring him to normal. "Well, now that I know what was actually going on in Tower 98, I don't have to go up to the factory," he calmly stated as he gazed with misty eyes at the three Shiroiwa alumni. "So if you're not so busy, would you like some tea?"

All three visitors from ten years before and many dimensions away blinked before Hirono shrugged as she slipped her Lawgiver into the holster tied onto her skirt belt. "I can use a good cup. We've tried to make that spiced ginseng tea you like so much…"

"I'm sure that if the ever-jovial Yūka was here with us at this time, she would gladly give us something that has her personal seal of approval, dear Hirono," Mizuho stated.

Ataru perked…and then he grinned as he offered his arms. Instantly, Hirono and Satomi were at his sides, their arms wrapping around his as they headed towards the Moroboshi home. Mizuho fell in behind them as they were joined by Gandolfini and Nijūin. Watching them go, Megane shook his head. "Knew it was too quiet here…"

"You can say that again," Kumiko noted.

"Oi! Guys! You coming?!" Ataru called out.

Both of his classmates perked, and then they ran off after him…

* * *

The Moroboshi home, fifteen minutes later…

"**_BATTLE ROYALE?!_**"

Ataru nodded. "Hai."

Stunned silence fell over the living room as the others who had joined the two Mahora mages gaped in disbelief at the Terran tag race champion and future Patriarch of the Moroboshi of Mutsu-no-Kuni. Atop Negi Springfield and his wife Nodoka, there was Zazie Rainyday, her best friend Tatsumiya Mana, Konoe Konoka, her lover Sakurazaki Setsuna, Saotome Haruka, Ayase Yūe and her wife Collette Farandole. "That's horrible!" Yūe breathed out as she allowed her therianthrope mate to hold her close.

"To believe it's actually REAL!" Haruka hissed.

"Yeah! It kinda shocked us when Geran told us about the novel and the films," Hirono stated. Kotatsuneko had been happy to serve tea to everyone there…though the cat-ghost was clearly upset that there was a place where helpless kittens would be made to literally kill or be killed. "Haven't really seen any copies of them, much less the manga. We haven't had much money to buy stuff outside food…and we've limited ourselves to that. Can't use the Rōnin's Salvation all the time, ya know…"

People perked. "'Rōnin's Salvation,' Hirono-san?" Negi asked.

"It's where people prey on criminals to obtain money and goods they could barter to help themselves, Springfield-sensei," Satomi explained. "Where we come from, that sort of thing is quite common." A smirk. "Even if the propaganda idiots always said we were a well-off country, the fact that there were just too many mouths to feed…"

"_The Program_ is meant as a way of controlling population levels?" Haruka asked.

A shake of the head. "Don't know, really. Shinji-kun would be able to answer that better. Maybe Shōgo-kun, too; as you know, his being in our class forced him to go through _The Program_ a second time." Satomi then sighed. "But right now…"

"We have no idea if our good friends have been restored," Mizuho finished.

"What do you mean, Mizuho?" Gandolfini asked.

A sigh. "Before Young Master Geran came to the factory with his grandfather to have us woken in our new bodies, all our souls — the boys as well as ourselves — were pulled through the Veil of the Te'a by the Staff and inserted into specially-prepared mesonium crystals. None of those involved in our 'creation' realised we were the real people from another dimension, so they were prepared to — after the girls in our class were reborn — force our colleagues through sex changes and revive them that way. Young Master Geran and his grandfather had come to the factory to have our bodies properly moulded as close as possible…"

"And would have done the same thing to the guys hadn't Ataru and the others come by to bust the party," Hirono cut in. "Just before that cursed orb Otako Meinyak's sister had was destroyed to kill off everyone on Phentax Twelve, Geran's grandpa used the Staff to probe into Ataru's mind to find any weakness that could be exploited so that the 'great evil'…" — she made finger-quotes on saying that — "…could be killed and the attack stopped. When he found out that Ataru was a fan of the _Battle Royale_ manga series, he went and woke Mizu here first." A smirk. "Bad choice."

"I cared not to be forced into battle until I fully understood what was going on," Mizuho added. "When the fool waived the Staff towards me to make me comply, I grabbed hold and pulled it out of his hands. Because I was a Sagussan genetically, his religion was false and he saw me only as a 'disobedient robot,' I became the Staff's first proper controller in over thirteen millennia. I then killed him for his actions." As the others grimly nodded, the would-be warrior priestess added, "Once the others were released from the gestation tubes, we interrogated Master Geran and learned the truth of our situation." A chuckle. "Ironic, indeed…"

"What's so ironic?" Mana asked.

"'Twas because of Master Shō that we were saved, Lady Hunter Mana," Mizuho stated. "Master Geran is gay. When he read the novel, he was inspired by the story of Master Shō and desired someone like him as an intimate companion. Several of his friends were also fans of the novel and decided that if Master Geran could have good Shō…"

"They'd want the others, too," Nijūin finished.

"Aye."

"So where is this guy, Mizuho?" Ataru asked.

Megane and Kumiko blinked on noting that their classmate hadn't used any sort of honorific with the would-be warrior-priestess' name…which was really strange as he had just met them today regardless if he had "known" of them for some years now thanks to the _Battle Royale_ manga series. "Right now, Ataru, I have no idea," Mizuho confessed, making Megane and Kumiko blink again in surprise on hearing none of Mizuho's flowery honorifics used there. "Shortly after you dealt with those soldiers outside the main doors to our tower, I used the Staff to return Master Geran to his friends' side on Phentax Two. I charged him to locate a similar device to the Staff called the Genesis Wand of Parah." As Ataru paled on hearing that, Mizuho added, "At the time, the Staff knew not where the Genesis Wand was located…but believed it was somewhere within the galaxy."

"'Genesis Wand?'" Konoka asked.

"A version of the genesis torpedo from _Star Trek_," Ataru explained in a voice of ashes.

The others in the room save Satomi and Hirono winced on hearing that. "Aye," Mizuho added. "Since the Staff had been in the hands of the 'Guardians' group on Phentax Two — Master Geran's grandfather was friends with one of those people; that was how he was able to borrow the Staff to ultimately have us restored to life — I believe they'll be more than pleased to locate the Genesis Wand. Once located, we can sweep in, obtain the Genesis Wand and the crystals bearing the souls of our friends, restore them to life…and after that is done, bring all the other _Program_ players here."

"Not that we can stay here forever," Satomi warned.

A sigh. "Satomi, did you not hear what Ataru say earlier about the truth of our coming here?!" Mizuho snapped. "Our bodies were created in THIS dimension…!"

"Our souls were NOT, Mizuho!" Satomi snapped back.

"_**HEY!**_"

Both jerked on hearing Ataru bark out like that. "Look, let's worry about that when the time comes, okay?" Hirono breathed out. "I'm sick and tired of listening to you two argue about this. Right now, Ataru wants to help us get the guys back on their feet. Let's focus on that. Once the boys are back, we'll deal with the rest of it."

Mizuho lightly smiled as Satomi sighed. "I take it you've had to play peacemaker when it comes to some of your friends," Yūe noted as she gazed sympathetically at Hirono.

A nod. "Yeah! I ain't cut out for that sort of shit, though!" Hirono then confessed before she sipped her tea. "Still, it would be nice…"

"I want to stay here too, Hirono," Satomi breathed out. "But…"

"Okay! Okay! That's enough, Satomi," Ataru cut in. "Like Hirono just said, we've got bigger problems to worry about first. I want to help you get your guys back. And if we can help get the other _Program_ players here, all the better."

The others nodded. "Well, the first thing that we should do is find a place for them to stay," Konoka stated. "It's not healthy for Terran girls to stay up on the factory. No offense to any pure-born Avalonian, but that place…"

"We could bring them down and have them stay at the dorms," Setsuna proposed.

"That will not be necessary, Setsuna."

Everyone turned to look. "Negako-sensei!" Satomi gasped.

"When did you get back here, Onē-san?" Ataru asked as Negako walked into the room from the hallway connecting to the dōjō. Kaga was at her side.

"Just now," the ninjutsu grandmaster stated as the visitors from Mahora all bowed respectfully to her. "Mizuho, proceed back to the factory and bring all your friends down. I will examine them in the dōjō before we discuss sleeping arrangements."

Mizuho nodded. "As you desire, Lady Negako."

"I better go with you, then," Hirono added…

* * *

The Ōta Ward of Tōkyō, Tōkyō International Airport (Haneda), a half-hour later…

"_Moroboshi_…!"

"So what the hell happened to these people?"

The officer of the Japan Coast Guard who was in command of a small launch that operated from the local base of the Special Rescue Team shook his head. "Don't know. We were heading back here when there was this flash of light in the sky over the bay there and these fellows fell out of it to fall into the water." He pointed out into the bay southeast of Runway 05/23, which stood out on an artificial peninsula some distance away from the remainder of the airport complex. Five young men who were now soaked to the skin and covered in blankets were huddled on a bench nearby. "Lucky thing we had a…"

"_Moroboshi_…!"

The police officer from the Kamata Station who had responded to the call shook his head. "Well, let's get them to the station and get their statements."

His partner nodded. "Hai…"

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

Concerning _Battle Royale_ continuity, I follow what was stated in the English-translated manga released by TokyoPop as re-written by Keith Giffen while the original manga series was being released in Japan from 2000-05. This is the version of the story I am familiar with. I understand that _BR_ purists didn't like the idea of Mr. Giffen reworking the concepts behind _The Program_ into a live-action reality game show; this ran contrary to what Takami-sensei intended in his novel and what Taguchi-sensei would later follow in the manga series he based on the novel. To keep potential continuity errors to a minimum, I set the dates of the Shiroiwa class' participation in _The Program_ on the weekend of 21-23 July 2000 (Friday to Sunday).

As I stated in _Avalonians and Questors_, the total number of episodes of _The Program_ that run per year is FIFTY episodes, done every weekend save for the last two weeks of the year. The production code for the episode involving the Shiroiwa class is "Episode 56/30" (thirtieth episode in Republic Year 56; the first year of the Greater East Asia Republic is 1945 on the Gregorian calendar).

As I did for _Phoenix From the Ashes_ and other recent stories, I write Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Russian and Ukrainian words using the Hepburn, McCune-Reischauer, Hànyǔ Pīnyīn and Scientific/Scholarly Romanisation systems respectively. All names are written in "family name-first" order for Oriental-based names and "family name-last" order for Occidental-based names.

And now, the notes for this chapter:

1) The internal structure of the Avalon bioroid factory is inspired by what was shown of the capital city of the planet Krypton in the 1978 _Superman_ film. The whole structure is twenty kilometres (12.4 miles) long, ten kilometres (6.2 miles) wide and three kilometres (1.9 miles) tall minus the main operations control tower. The gestation towers are set up in twenty rows of five towers each starting from Tower #1 on the starboard side of the factory a kilometre back from the bow and a kilometre inboard from the starboard side. The towers are numbered forward-to-back, starboard-to-port. The foundation of the main operations control tower is situated between Gestation Towers #3 and #8. That particular structure measures 750 metres (2460.6 feet) above the weather deck of the factory itself. As the factory was positioned on the surface of Phentax Twelve, Tower #98 was aligned near the northeast corner. At Lagrange Point One above the surface of the Moon, Tower #98 is near the "aft" end of the structure on the port side; the "bow" is aligned always towards Earth.

2) The **Staff of Gihan** was first introduced in _The Senior Year_ story "Great Father Ataru Stage Two: Remembrance." It is a **Haijo-ju** (literally meaning "will of the people"…though often more romantically translated as "voice of the people's desire"), a focusing crystal of potentially unparalleled power mated to a sentient battle computer. Physically, the device is two metres (78.7 inches) in height, shaped somewhat like a stylishly-ornate parade pike with a crescent moon-shaped head (akin to the original Moon Sceptre from the first season of _Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon_) with the focusing crystal itself held by the arms of the moon. The crystal is spheroid in shape and forty centimetres (15.7 inches) in diameter. It is composed of **ebony mesonium** in the core (about 50% of the mass), with a 30% middle layer of **ruby mesonium** and a 20% outer layer of **diamond mesonium**; mesonium is a transuranium element I first introduced in _TSY_ that I often describe as "the atom of the mind and soul…and thus of magic."

The Staff of Gihan made a considerable impact also in _Lonely Souls_.

3) **Zoroastrianism** — sometimes called "Mazdaism" — is believed to be one of the oldest monotheistic faiths still active on Earth; certainly, it ranks probably second to Judaism. Its primary diety is **Ahura Mazdā**, from whom all good flows and who rules Heaven. His opposite number is **Aŋra Mainiuu**, from whom all evil and destruction flows. The first scriptures of this faith was written by the prophet and sage **Zaraϑuštra Spitāma** (also known as "Zoroaster"), who is said to have lived centuries before the birth of Christ (historians have postulated that he lived somewhere in the period between the Eighteenth and Sixth Centuries B.C.E.). Zaraϑuštra is perhaps best known these days as the inspiration for the tone poem _Also Sprach Zarathustra_ ("Thus Spoke Zarathustra"), written in 1896 by **Richard Wagner** (1864-1949) for the philosophical treatise of the same name written by Wagner's contemporary, **Friedrich Nietzsche** (1844-1900). The initial fanfare of the song — called "Sunrise" — was the theme music for the 1968 film _2001: A Space Odyssey_ and its sequel.

Zoroastrianism — unlike later monotheistic faiths such as Judaism, Christianity and Islam — does not possess a formal church-like structure. Its basic tenet is that Ahura Mazdā is the one uncreated Creator to whom all worship is ultimately directed. Ahura Mazdā personifies truth and order (known as **aša**) and is the antithesis of chaos and disorder (**druj**), which is personified by Aŋra Mainiuu. All those who follow the words of Zaraϑuštra believe that the whole universe — including mankind — is involved in the conflict between _aša_ and _druj_…and that such conflict will finally reach its climax in the **Frašōkereti** (literally "making wonderful/excellent"), when the dead will be resurrected and Heaven will rule over all. They look on water, earth and fire as agents of ritual purity; priests of the faith normally gather their flock in a **fire temple**…though adherents of the faith have often believed that it is alright to directly worship Ahura Mazdā without a priest to act as a spiritual go-between. Atop that, Zoroastrian scripture flatly FORBIDS forced conversion to the faith.

The basic message of the religion, in essence, can be summed up in this simple phrase: **Good thoughts, good words, good deeds**.

Zoroastrianism is seen by many to be a dying faith; according to one recent _New York Times_ article, the actual number of worldwide adherents range between 190,000 and 124,000, mostly centred in the city of Mumbai in India. Unlike Christianity and Islam, Zoroastrianism does not adhere to any form of proselytism to spread the faith; this is one of the things that has contributed to the massive fall of numbers over the years.

As an aside, one of the faith's most well-known modern adherents was **Freddie Mercury** (1946-91), the lead singer of the famous British rock band **Queen**. Mercury — born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar — was descent of the **Parsi**, the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in the Subcontinent.

4) **Inada Mizuho**'s path to embracing Zoroastrianism as her personal faith is, put succinctly, unique. The daughter of two "Christian scientists" — as noted in her biography which can be found before the _Battle Royale_ manga story "Message" (manga episode #78) — she came to see herself as the vessel of the "elder gods"…as presented to her in a sourcebook for _Dungeons and Dragons_ of all things! Her final act on Oki-shima — before she was struck down by **Kiriyama Kazuo** — was to create a "mystic seal" to protect her from the demons that were hunting her down; at this point, her delusions had overwhelmed her totally and she could not be reasoned with…as **Nanahara Shūya** discovered to his regret at the end of the manga story "Rain" (manga episode #76). Once in her new body and free of _The Program_, Mizuho would — with the help of the Staff of Gihan — discover that there were others who believed in her "master," then sought them out. As time went on, she began discovering Zoroastrianism scripture…and in the process, heal herself from what her first life's delusions had done to her.

As an aside, she is referred to in the narrative as a "would-be warrior priestess" because of her chosen gaming name from her first life: "The **Warrior-Priestess Prexia Dikianne Mizuho**."

5) Translations: **ϑ** — One of the two lowercase versions of the Greek letter "**Θ**" (_theta_), which in **Avestan** (the language of Zoroastrian scripture) is meant to personify the voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative sound similar to the "th" in _thick_ or _thin_; **Toinjang-tchigae** — A stew-like dish made of soybean paste; **Koch'ugaru** — Red chilli pepper powder; **Insam-ch'a** — Ginseng tea; **Sencha** — Japanese green steeped tea; **Daitōryō** — President (of a nation); **Shihan** — Martial arts school grandmaster; **Shōshō** — Navy rear admiral/Army major general/Air Force air vice marshal (NATO rank code OF-7), commonly called a **two-star** general/admiral; **Rishiri-zan** — Mount Rishiri, a young stratovolcano located in the very centre of Rishiri-tō whose peak reaches 1721 metres (5,646 feet) above sea level (this mountain is also sometimes called **Rishiri-Fuji** due to its close resemblance to Japan's highest mountain); **Rin** — Obsolete Japanese currency that was once rated as 1/1000th of a yen (the yen was, before World War Two, fixed at the equivalent price of $0.50 American dollars…thus the rin would be the rough equivalent of an American or Canadaian cent).

6) **Gekasawa Kumiko** — for those who don't know — is a minor _Yatsura_ character. She first appeared in the manga story "Even Though I Wait For You" (manga episode #27). Her family name is my creation.

7) The term **Skin-jobs** originally comes from the 1982 dystopian science fiction/action movie _Blade Runner_, which starred Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer and Sean Young. This term, as used in the civilisation of 2019 Los Angeles, was used to describe the **replicants** — which is a form of bioroid not that different than an Avalonian — introduced in the film. The term — as fans of the reimaged version of _Battlestar Galactica_ which first appeared in 2003 will know — was also applied to the **humanoid Cylons** once they became known to the surviving Colonials in the "rag-tag fleet" (as fans of _BSG_ call the refugee fleet the _Galactica_ herself is escorting to Earth). Naturally, given the artificial nature of their creation, the Avalonians came to be seen as "skin-jobs"…which would be viewed by those who support the Avalonians (like Ataru and his siblings) as a gross insult to them.

8) **Kuzunoha Tōko**, **Tony Gandolfini** (his given name is my creation) and **Nijūin Mitsuru** are all teachers at the Mahora Academy as revealed in both the "Mahora Festival" and "Magical World" story arcs in _Mahō Sensei Negima_. They — along with Headmaster **Konoe Konoemon** — are also mages who form part of the central operations unit of the **Kantō Magical Association**. I give this organisation the formal English name **His Imperial Majesty's Magical Commandery of Kantō**; a **commandery** was an administrative subdivision of China which was ranked below local counties in the government hierarchy due to their smaller populations…though their local military strength far outranked that of any county. In the mixed _Negima_/_Harry Potter_ situation amongst magicals in the universe of this story, the Kantō Magical Association has its own member seat in the worldwide magical alliance of governments, the **International Conference of Magical Communities**.

As an aside, the people introduced near the end of this part are some of the main characters from _Negima_ (along with one of the secondary characters, **Ayase Yūe**'s former classmate from the academy city of Ariadne — and now wife — **Collette Farandole**, who first appeared in the manga story "All Negi's Got" [manga episode #202]). Like I did for the _Harry Potter_ characters — as I noted in both _Phoenix From the Ashes_ and _Wizards and Avalonians_ — the _Negima_ timeline is fixed to what was revealled in the manga, as noted by the birth-dates of **Negi Springfield**'s students. At this time of their lives, most of the former Class 3-A of Mahora Girl's Junior High School in the 2003-2004 school year are attending university. Negi's wife is the former **Miyazaki Nodoka** (a.k.a. "**Hon'ya-chan**," which is often translated as "Bookstore Girl"), who — because Negi is still an English teacher in the girl's middle school division of the Mahora Academy — attends Mejiro University to avoid any concerns about the impropriety of a teacher being married to a student in the same institution.

For everyone's information, the location of the **Mahora Academy** itself is NOT in the northern areas of Tōkyō as some people claim it to be. In the manga story "Ribbit, Ribbit — Panic on the Bullet Train!?" (manga episode #28), it is revealed that the Academy is quite close to **Ōmiya Station**, which is located in the ward of the same name in **Saitama**, the administrative centre and largest city of the prefecture of the same name north of Tōkyō itself.

9) Mizuho's teaming up with **Abraham Lincoln** (from Seth Grahame-Smith's 2010 novel _Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter_ [ISBN 978-0-446-56308-6]) to defend Azkaban against vampires will be shown in detail in a future chapter of _Wizards and Avalonians_.

10) As the town of **Shiroiwa** (which literally means "Castle Rock") is said to be in the **Kagawa Prefecture** at the northeast end of Shikoku neae the prefectural capital city of Takamatsu, Mizuho and her classmates logically speak with the local accent, which is known as **Sanuki** (literally meaning "commanding fork in the road"), the name of the pre-1871 Imperial province that existed within the borders of modern Kagawa-ken.

As an aside, the Imperial province of **Mutsu** (_Mutsu-no-Kuni_), where Ataru's ancestors hail from, covered the modern prefectures of Fukushima, Miyagi, Iwate and Aomori, plus the municipalities of Kazuno and Kosaka in Akita Prefecture.

11) The **Peacemaker** rifle and the **Lawgiver** pistol are the standard long arm rifle and personal defence pistol of the **Zephyrites** from _TSY_. Both weapons fire a proton-charged bolt of energy and — like _Star Trek_ phasers — have multiple power settings, ranging from Levels 1 (or "very light stun") to 16 ("kill-disintegrate"). The Peacemaker was named after the DC Comics character of the same name. The Lawgiver was inspired by the like-named weapon that appeared in _Judge Dredd_.

12) The **Cyborg** side of Ataru's personality (which first appeared in the _TSY_ story "Sakura's Class Reunion") is, in effect, his darker side brought out in flesh and neutronium-hard metal. Based physically on the **Cyborg Superman** (**Hank Henshaw**) who appeared in the "Reign of the Supermen" storyline published by DC Comics during the mid-1990s, the Cyborg is an updated representation of the **Master of Entropy** (in Sagussan, _Keiseiri'cha_), the being that typically symbolises the ending of all things that exist (his story was explained in the _TSY_ story "Noa").

As an aside, the 愛と事実 inscription on his arm-shields reads _Ai to Jijitsu_ in Japanese, which means "Love and Truth" in English.

13) The **Rōnin's Salvation** concept was first introduced to me through the fanfic story _Ranma and Akane: A Love Story_ by **Eric Hallstrom** from the turn of the millennium. It is marked as a favourite of mine at this website.

14) Ataru's dropping of an honorific with Mizuho's name is known in Japanese as **Yobisute**. To do this can mean one of two things: It indicates a level of considerable intimacy…or — when used in situations where such feelings of intimacy have not been properly earned — it infers a gross insult.

15) The **Genesis Wand of Parah** — also known as the **Sceptre of Lecasur** — was an object first introduced in the _TSY_ story "Nassur's Story." It also appeared in _Lonely Souls_.

16) The Japanese Coast Guard's **Special Rescue Team** (in Japanese, _Tokushu Kyūnan Tai_) is that organisation's elite search and rescue team. Formed in 1975 in the wake of a very bad collision in Tōkyō Bay the year before between an LPG tanker and a cargo ship, the SRT is responsible for nation-wide search and rescue operations. Given its priority mission, the SRT is always on-call 24 hours a day. The team moved to its present base at Haneda Airport in 1986.


	2. When Fiction Becomes Reality

Somewhere in the galaxy, about 40,000 light years from Earth…

"Still curvin' up, Shinji?"

A sigh. "Yeah, man. Still curving up."

Hearing that comment, Numai Mitsuru could only shake his head. That rather bland joke had been bandied about between the boys of their old middle school class since they first awoke on their hosts' ship parked nearby over a month ago. While it hadn't taken them long to adjust to the bizarre situation they now were in, it was certainly a damned sight better than being forced to participate in _The Program_. A lot better, especially now that everyone in their class was alive — they knew about what Fujino Shigeki had instigated when he still called himself "Geran dai-Farosh" back on his home planet — and well, even if the girls were now probably on Earth and the boys were stuck on the Planet of Shadows.

_Whoever thought up_ that _fucked-up name?!_ the nominal number two of the Kiriyama Gang of Shiroiwa mused as he pulled out one of the cigarettes that had been synthesized for those who felt the need for nicotine by their hosts and slipped it into his mouth before lighting up. As the soothing tobacco fumes flooded him, Mitsuru could only smirk as he looked up at the distant bright gold sun that formed the core of the Planet of Shadows, that now being obscured by floating layers of dark matter shaped like the monoliths from _2001: A Space Odyssey_ to allow a form of "night" to fall over this part of the 350,000,000 kilometre-wide Dyson sphere they now stood on. Which was nice; whoever had built this place clearly understood that there had to be times when people needed to sleep and had constructed an artificial way of allowing that to happen.

While Mitsuru didn't see himself as scientifically-inclined, those who were science geeks like Mimura Shinji were STILL boggled by the dimensions of this place.

Not to mention that the Planet of Shadows — unlike the Dyson sphere that had been portrayed in the _Star Trek - The Next Generation_ episode "Relics" where the crew of the _Enterprise_-D had encountered Captain Montgomery Scott — could be INHABITED.

_But who the fuck lived here?! What happened to them?!_ Mitsuru wondered as he looked around the rolling glade where the ship which had transported their hosts and the twenty-one un-templated bodies that had been obtained prior to the liberation of the factory to become the new clone bodies of twenty fifteen and sixteen year-old boys — and one seventeen year-old boy — from Japan in another universe and ten years back in time had landed. _Tech's high even to an uneducated moron like me…so where the hell are the people in this place?!_

Other than the so-called "Keeper" who had resided in the Crystal Palace — a vast structure the size of Fuji-san off to the northwest, where the Genesis Wand of Parah had been hidden years ago — until very recently, there hadn't been any signs of any sort of animal life in the Planet of Shadows, to say anything of sentient life. Gazing at the great structure off in the distance, Mitsuru smirked. It was hard to determine the cardinal directions when you were _inside_ a giant sphere possessing _**twenty-two and a half septillion**_ cubic kilometres of internal volume — Mitsuru had been awestruck when the Boss had actually told him that number — so the boys had decided to use an invisible line from the bow of their ship to the sun as the cardinal direction for "north."

_Then again, we haven't had much chance to explore this place_, he mused before he looked back at the _Shiroiwa Express_. That had been the name they had selected for the unnamed Niphentaxian warp-capable courier ship their hosts had used to travel to the Planet of Shadows, a trip that had taken over three months even at over a thousand times the speed of light and with the help of a handy wormhole no different than the one that led from Deep Space Nine into Gamma Quadrant in the fourth _Star Trek_ television series. Gazing at it now, Mitsuru was quick to note that several of the guys were heading inside to hit their bunks and get some rack time; today had been Shinji's day off from brutalising himself trying to learn all the high tech to get the _Express_ going and fly to Earth, so he had spent most of the day enjoying some sun.

"Mitsuru-sama!"

Mitsuru turned and waved as a very demure young woman came towards him. Gazing on the woman born Korash dai-Sayos and now calling herself "Shibata Yōko," Kiriyama Kazuo's number two could only shake his head at how _lucky_ he was when it came to the fifteen alien girls and one alien boy who had — out of love for a novel that had been written in this dimension by some guy name Takami Kōshun which came pretty close to accurately reflecting what had happened on Oki-shima one summer weekend in 2000 back in the boys' home dimension — wanted to obtain replicas of some of their favourite fictional characters…and, thanks to an incredible twist of luck, got the _**real people**_ instead! "Hey, Yōko," he called back as the raven-haired, blue-eyed girl approached, his arm automatically reaching out to draw his new girlfriend into his side.

As Shinji rose and move to put away his beach towel so Mitsuru could have some privacy with Yōko, the very sweet girl leaned up to gently kiss the tough-looking man on the cheek. "Mitsuru-sama, you need to stop doing that!" she then scolded on seeing the cigarette in his hand. "You won't be hurt by the nicotine, but still…"

She felt her breath taken away from her as he leaned in to kiss her hard on the lips. Instantly, Yōko responded to that action, which made Shinji smirk before he turned to head back towards the _Express_. _Lucky thing that the android shells that Mai-chan obtained for all her friends and her are programmed as sex-bots_, the former basketball star forward and part-time computer hacker mused as he slipped off his sunglasses and tucked them into his T-shirt. _Much that we're grateful to the girls and Shigeki for saving our asses from_ **dying** _of all things, they really have got to stop_ **worshipping** _us like they do all the time!_ A sigh. _Sheesh! Gratitude's one thing…!_

"Hey, Shinji! How was the sun?"

Shinji smirked on hearing the voice of one of his best friends, Nanahara Shūya. One of TWO of their class to actually escape _The Program_, he had been heading with Nakagawa Noriko on a ship to America when their souls had been yanked out of their bodies by the Staff of Gihan and brought into this dimension over five months before. And while Shinji was happy that Shūya and Noriko HAD delivered the finger to _The Program_ — with help from Kawada Shōgo, of course — he was also glad that the would-be rock singer was with them now. While there had been times that Shinji was quite convinced that Shūya was certifiably insane in the same way Inada Mizuho, Sōma Mitsuko and Kiriyama Kazuo were, his unending optimism and never-say-quit attitude had galvanised all the other boys into striving to find some way to get back together with their classmates in a Japan that had _**never**_ got the chance to evolve into the Greater East Asia Republic. "Actually pretty okay," Shinji replied as he stopped close to Shūya. "I'm still too much in awe of this place. The way the people who built this place designed the climate controls to make sure we don't get hurt by solar radiation and all that…" A smirk. "Like Clarke-sensei always said."

"'Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.'"

"Damn straight!" Shinji noted. "How're you doing, Kazuo?"

A sigh…which, back in their universe and time, would have been something Kiriyama Kazuo would NEVER do. "When I meditate now, I have started to sense the Dreamscape…but I don't know if I can actually break into any person's personal 'dream-site' to send out an alert that we're marooned on this planet and require rescue."

"Well, that's good," Shūya noted. "Once you do that, they'll know someone's out here."

"If they can accept the idea of _male_ Avalonians, Shū," Shinji warned. "Remember? The bioroid factory was designed only to make girls. Boy bioroids weren't planned."

"The uniqueness should attract someone's attention, though," Kazuo noted. "Hopefully by now, our peers would have made open contact with the Moroboshi siblings and alerted them to what Shigeki ultimately provoked concerning us."

"Big 'if,' Kazuo," Shinji warned. "And speaking of which, how is Shō's boyfriend?"

An exaggerated moan echoed from the open hatchway leading into the _Express_. "He's tired and sleeping right now, Shinji-kun," the passionate voice of Tsukioka Shō called out as the tall and muscular man walked down the gangway to join them. "Poor dear's so totally exhausted right now! He couldn't even kiss me good night." With that, he drew out a cigarette of his own and moved to light it. Kawada Shōgo — given his background as an unofficial scrub nurse for his late father, a doctor who had worked in the poor side of Kōbe until his death at the hands of the government when he tried to protest his son's involvement in _The Program_, he was now seen as their unofficial chief medical officer — had flatly forbidden ANY smoking inside the starship itself.

"Did Shōgo scan out his organic parts, Shō?" Shūya asked.

A nod. "The disease hasn't hit his central nervous system…but there are disease cells in the other organic parts of his body," Shō said as he gave Shūya a look of gratitude. Unlike several of the others in their class, Shūya hadn't been bothered at all by Shō being so flamboyant about his sexuality. Still, it was pretty much in line with the way the others had come to view their situation and each other. Everyone in their group decided at the start to forget what happened in _The Program_, let bygones be bygones and work together to get off the Planet of Shadows and rejoin their classmates…especially after Shigeki's cousin Takeshi Mai revealed the horrid truth of what had happened to Kazuo when he was a child. Shōgo had been quick to identify what struck Kazuo as an odd version of Klüver-Bucy Syndrome, where Kazuo's emotions had been stunted to non-existence thanks to the whiplash of the car crash that had killed his mother badly lacerating both amygdalae in the area behind his eyes. "Much that I'm grateful that Mai-chan was able to get the technology to save Shigeki…"

"I don't trust it either, man…but it's keeping him and the others alive," Shūya said as he patted Shō's shoulder. "Now we gotta pay them back for saving everyone."

"I will see if I can try to meditate some more before going to bed," Kazuo stated.

"Don't overexert yourself, man," Shinji said as he moved to head inside. "As much as we need Shōgo's medical skills, we need that brilliant brain of yours, too."

Kazuo nodded before he headed off. Shūya watched him go, and then he gave Shō a look before moving to head inside himself. Shō smiled as he finished his cigarette before he joined his friend and gang boss on the glade where their ship had landed…

* * *

Tomobiki, the Moroboshi home (local time: lunchtime)…

"Some spiced insam-ch'a, ladies?"

Hearing that kind voice from a man they both admired very much, Nakagawa Noriko and Utsumi Yukie turned before nodding their thanks as cups of the spiced ginseng tea were placed down before them. "Arigatō, Ataru-kun," Yukie said as she took up the cup and gently blew on it before she sipped it. She then blinked as the harsh tinge of the red chilli pepper flakes Ataru had salted the tea with hit her taste buds before new energy flooded her, and then she sipped again. "It's so good!"

"Well, he does his best," Ataru stated as he sat down beside them before he nodded towards Kotatsuneko, who was enjoying his own cup of green steeped tea nearby.

Both Shiroiwa girls gazed on the giant cat-ghost, and then they giggled before nodding their thanks to him. "So we can stay, can we?" Noriko asked.

Ataru nodded. "You have no choice, Noriko-san," he noted. "The body you have now — atop it allowing you to view Yukie-san here as your perfect soul-mate — was created in the factory in THIS dimension." As Noriko and Yukie both flustered on hearing him say that, he then sighed. "So you'll never have to fear running into the bastards that ordered you to kill or die back before you got yanked here by the Staff." He then winked. "Unless you want to take a ship and blow up the Tōkyō in that dimension."

"We'd be tempted," Yukie noted. "There are all those old Niphentaxian battlewagons and destroyers the other Avalonians seized when you came to bring the factory here, Ataru-kun. All of them are in pretty good shape. We could use one of them."

"The Staff would help us get back to our home dimension," Noriko added. "We could do it." A shrug. "But what would it do in the end? Would it actually change things?"

He gazed in surprise at the _ashi'cha_ of the _Program_ players from Shiroiwa, and then he looked at her would-be bond-mate. "That's Megumi's warning about doing that sort of thing," Yukie explained. "You have _Star Trek_ here. You know of the Prime Directive?"

A nod. "Yeah, in a way, it'd be smart," Ataru admitted. "But then again…"

"With great power comes greater responsibility," Noriko stated. "That's why the Republic is tolerated even if they always kill off an average of forty teenagers every weekend for fifty weeks a year…and has done it since 1947." As a rule, the Shiroiwa girls didn't use the dating system introduced in the Greater East Asia Republic in 1945 after the death of the Shōwa Emperor and his family by a rogue Nazi V-2 missile attack launched from U-boats, the warheads bearing Germany's first-ever nuclear bombs. "They're always there for the little people…and have been ever since the Greater East Asia War ended and the nations of the Third World decided they didn't want to have anything to do anymore with the nations of Europe."

Ataru nodded. It had shocked him when he had learned of the two big differences between the _Battle Royale_ manga series he was familiar with and the reality that Noriko, Yukie and their classmates had lived in. One difference was how _The Program_ was actually administered and how the normal public in the Republic interacted — if at all — with _The Program_. In the manga — as in the original novel by Takami Kōshun-sensei — everything concerning the Republic of Greater East Asia's Army Ministry Combat Experiment Program #68 was always done out of the view of the public eye. The only time people learned that their children had died performing their "grave social duty" to the Republic was when the death notices were delivered by members of the Non-Aggressive Defence Army…and the public announcement was made that the _Program_ event for the year had been run.

In the girls' universe — in a funny reflection of the American English translation of the manga by the famous comic book writer and artist Keith Giffen, which had been released over the last few years — the show was BROADCAST LIVE on the local television networks…not to mention recorded on DVDs for sale at local stores.

Kanai Izumi's younger brother Horuichi had collected all the DVDs that had been sold up to the point where Izumi herself had died on Oki-shima.

_Wonder what would happen if he got sucked into_ The Program _and made to kill all his friends_, Ataru had mused to himself on hearing that factoid.

The second difference — and the most horrifying thing of the whole situation in his mind — was the sheer FREQUENCY of _Program_ "episodes." Instead of a _once-a-year_ event with a class selected from fifty candidate classes from across the Republic as shown in the manga, the _Program_ Noriko and her friends were all too familiar with was a _**once-a-week**_ event save for the last two weeks of the calendar year before New Year's Day. With an average of forty students per class and fifty "episodes" per year for the previous fifty years — added to the forty-seven classes selected to "play" in each of the three previous years before 1950, atop the twenty-nine classes run in 2000 prior to Shiroiwa's involvement in _The Program_ — the total number of _Program_ players, survivors and slain alike, was well over a HUNDRED THOUSAND boys and girls.

Ataru had actually wept when he heard that from Noriko.

"Dear gods! It's all true?!"

Ataru's head snapped around…and then he sighed. "Hai, Sakura-sensei, it's all true," he said as he waved Sakurambō Sakura, her fiancé Ozuno Tsubame and her uncle Sakurambō "Cherry" Hayao into the living room. He then did introductions.

As Kotatsuneko prepared more tea for the newcomers, bows, handshakes and hugs were exchanged between the three local mystics and the two teenagers from another dimension. "Are there any problems with any of your friends?" Sakura asked.

"No physical problems," Yukie confessed. "We run an hour-long aerobics session to keep in good shape every day. As for the mental problems, though…"

"To paraphrase a wonderfully profane woman like Hirono, we're all pretty fucked up inside," Noriko added, which made Ataru nearly choke on his tea. Nakagawa Noriko was the physical and emotional epitome of the nice, quiet girl. Hearing her swear like that just seemed so WRONG. "Some of us more so than others…"

"Sōma Mitsuko being the worst of the lot," Sakura then stated, thus showing that she herself was quite familiar with the _Battle Royale_ story.

"Hai."

"What of young Mizuho?" Cherry wondered. "I've heard of all the times she's appeared in magical enclaves across the planet. If she is magical…"

"The Staff is similar to Raeburn-shōshō's Power Jewel in capabilities, Cherry," Ataru advised. "From what I could scan of her mind when I touched her, her fantasies have evolved into real faith. She's visited various Zoroastrian fire temples across India, Iran and elsewhere, always coming in to read copies of the Avesta and anything else to help her better understand what Zaraϑuštra-sensei prophesised in the first place." He sipped his tea. "She hasn't undergone a navjote yet, but she wants to do it."

"That can be arranged, I think," Tsubame noted, nodding.

"Agreed. The more we can do to accommodate someone like her, the better," Sakura noted. "I'm very uncomfortable about her having a device like this Staff, though."

"The Staff likes her, Sensei," Noriko stated with a smile. "With Mizuho, the Staff gets the chance to actually _**create**_ something, not _destroy_ it."

The visiting mystics all blinked. "Good," Cherry noted with a pleased nod. "It should always be encouraged. I can feel the love she has for young Ataru here. If someone like that foolish lad who tried to attack him earlier comes by…"

"I think the warning Mizuho gave him — AFTER she put his arm back together in the wake of Hirono shooting it off — will get through to him," Ataru noted. "Mototsuku wants to make scores with the ladies. He can't do that if people think he's a bastard."

Noriko and Yukie laughed on hearing that…before they turned as someone walked in from the hallway leading to the dōjō. "What's so funny?" Sōma Mitsuko asked.

Ataru smirked. "Just talking about a stupid boy who can't see the trees for the forest in front of him, Mitsuko-san," he said as he waved her over to join them.

Mitsuko blinked…

* * *

Ōta Ward in Tōkyō, Kamata Police Station (five kilometres west-northwest of Haneda Airport), that moment…

"_**AH-CHOO!**_"

"Bless you!"

A moan. "Damn you, Moroboshi…!"

Hearing that moan from Mōri Mototsuku, the drunken salaryman in the neighbouring cell snorted before he turned himself around to get some sleep. "Try to be nice…"

* * *

Tomobiki, the Moroboshi home, after lunch…

"He hates me, Noriko…"

Noriko perked on hearing that meek voice, and then she sighed. "He doesn't hate you, Mitsuko," she said as she gazed on the former teenage prostitute with a kind smile. "Remember what Negako-sensei said. Ataru-kun has the whole manga collection. That was the version of our story that explained what happened to you when you were a child." She scowled on saying that; to even make an oblique reference to the monster that had raped Mitsuko many times over a period of three years made Noriko feel dirty.

Mitsuko blinked as her dark blue eyes widened for a moment…and then she seemed to sink back against the couch they and Yukie were sitting on, taking a moment to allow the wonderful lunch they just had to digest properly. "He doesn't want to hurt me, you mean," she then noted as she gazed like a lost child at her group's _ashi'cha_.

Noting that, Noriko nodded. Indeed, Sakura-sensei had the right of it earlier; of all of the Shiroiwa girls, Sōma Mitsuko was the most emotionally damaged. While Noriko herself had very little knowledge when it came to psychological injuries — and she had found herself from time to time wishing that Kawada Shōgo was there to help her out in these matters — she knew Mitsuko's soul had been nearly ripped in half thanks to what her stepfather had done over a period of three years until his murder at the hands of a Yakuza kōbun…at Mitsuko's own instigation. Saying she had a split-personality was perhaps the best way to describe the ex-teenage prostitute's mental condition.

On most occasions — especially after Inada Mizuho used the Staff of Gihan to probe through the dimensional veil to help Mitsuko learn the truth of her father's fate in early March — the woman known to many in Shiroiwa by the English word "Hardcore" was a person full of burning passion, someone who was quick to anger…and equally quick to arouse. Every girl of their group had enjoyed hours of passionate sex with Mitsuko on several occasions before Kitano Yukiko and Kusaka Yumiko experienced the "time of the month" a month after their awakening in this universe and they bonded…which had triggered off the _marei'cha_ urge in many others, including Nakagawa Noriko and Utsumi Yukie.

Sōma Mitsuko had experienced that as well…with _**Etō Megumi**_ of all people!

But whenever things happened that made Mitsuko feel alone, "Daddy's girl" would emerge from the innermost depths of her soul. This, Noriko knew, was the little girl deep within her friend's heart who longed for the love of a father driven away from his family home by the soulless society they had been a part of…and who so desperately wanted her father to come back and take her away from the darkness her mother had effectively allowed her to fall into when she later married Mitsuko's stepfather. While "Daddy's girl" no longer seemed to personify herself emotionally as the ripped-apart rag doll with a lot of the stuffing knocked out of it, she was still a very prominent part of Mitsuko's overall psyche…and which had become the focus of Megumi's desire to see her future bond-mate finally healed from the many pains of the past.

Tacked onto that was Mitsuko's understandable attraction to Moroboshi Ataru…

* * *

_The Avalon bioroid factory (in orbit over the Moon), Thursday 25 February 2010, early afternoon (Japan time)… _

_"Hey!" _

_Sōma Mitsuko was currently manning the security monitor console in Tower #98. _

_This gave her the chance to view all that was going on inside the vast structure she and her classmates had woken up inside a week before. _

_Right now, it was crowded. _

_Far more crowded than the Greater East Asia Republic — which was a nation of over two hundred million people living on the long chain of islands from the northernmost of the Chishima-rettō all the way down to Takasago, not to mention Karafuto, the Izu-shotō, the Ogasawara-guntō, the Kazan-rettō and the many islands of the Nan'yō-chō — but it wasn't at the point of dire desperation. The bioroid factory's main hull had a total internal volume of_ **six hundred billion** _cubic metres. Of that space, over twenty-one billion cubic metres was consumed by all the gestation towers…though all save Tower #98 had been taken over to one extent or another by Avalonian refugees. _

_And while 714 civilian passenger liners and cargo ships, plus 156 military vessels such as battleship/carriers, destroyers and support craft — not to mention two dozen mobile space docks and 506 space factory satellites that had been towed here by the Noukiites and Yehisrites as "war booty" — had done a lot to alleviate the crowded conditions on the factory itself, stepping out of Tower #98 still would make Mitsuko feel quite claustrophobic. That was odd given that the available space inside the factory was great enough to humanely house TEN TIMES the over two billion bioroids created by this place over the last century; Noda Satomi had calculated that one. _

_Even more so, THEY were also present. _

_Helping the Avalonians aboard the factory — and no doubt aboard all the other ships that had made cislunar space around Earth seem quite crowded — were a virtual army of Noukiite and Yehisrite medical personnel. Providing security was a brigade's worth of free warriors from Noukiios, plus a regiment of warriors belonging to Yehisril's top law enforcement agency, the Imperial Corps of Executioners. And while Mitsuko had found a lot of people — including women;_ Damned bisexual body! _the former prostitute had often cursed time and time again — from both races very attractive in a raw and sexual manner, there were four other people who had also caught her attention. _

_The Moroboshi siblings: Negako, Tariko, Hiromi and Ataru. _

_It was Ataru that Mitsuko was gazing at right now. _

_"Ataru-sama…?" _

_Hearing the pained voice of the woman — who appeared to be about Ataru's age, which put her physically about two years older than Mitsuko — calling out to him, the former Shiroiwa Junior High student focused on her for a moment. Pretty, model-slim and quite shapely — which was quite the norm for teenage Avalonians, Mitsuko had noted right away — she had long, straight brown hair partially pulled away from her face by a headband, with brown eyes behind reading glasses. She was dressed now in a rather plain jumpsuit that had been produced by one of the space factories that had been towed here to Earth; no doubt, the poor woman had been either naked or dressed in some string bikini when the recall had been launched. "Hey," Ataru — who looked quite overdressed in his Noukiite traveller's robes — called out with a friendly smile as he sat down on the couch on the catwalk that led to the main doors of Tower #98. "Mizuno Tomomi, right?" _

_She perked as he said that, and then she smirked. "You played the game?" _

_"I know of it. Haven't had chances to play it, though. Adult video games have advanced quite a bit since_ Dōkyūsei _and its sequels came out a decade ago," he admitted as he allowed her to take his hand in her own. "And I have to admit, you look so much like the character." _

_She seemed to blush. "Were any of our masters rescued?" she then quietly asked. _

_He shook his head. "Nope. Avalonians — and hybrid children — only." He then smirked. "Except for Ganzo-ojiisan, of course." Hearing the name of Ganzo dai-Louc made Tomomi perk. "Then again, he's practically a naturalised Noukiite now." _

_She took that in…and then she shuddered as tears appeared in her eyes. "Master…!" she moaned out before a wail of pain exploded from her lips. _

_Instantly, Ataru embraced her as Tomomi began to weep. Watching the people around them, Mitsuko was quick to note the looks of sympathy in their eyes regardless of which race they hailed from. Calling up her own extensive knowledge of how human beings react — and mating that to her understanding of her adopted race's powers — the middle school senior from Shiroiwa was quick to concluded that Tomomi had a very kind "owner" who had treated her like a human being…and that said owner was no doubt dead somewhere back in the Phentax system. Hearing Ataru whisper soothing words into Tomomi's ear as he gently stroked her hair made Mitsuko's own eyes tear as she remembered how many of her classmates had spent time weeping in relief on realising they were alive — having all effectively survived the meat-grinder of_ The Program _— and were now relatively safe…all thanks to Geran dai-Farosh and his friends' interest in_ Battle Royale_! _

_"He's no demon…" _

_Mitsuko turned…and then she sighed. "No, he's not," she noted as Sakaki Yūko came up to look over the other girl's shoulder at the image on the monitor screen. "Still, you were being smart when you begged Mizuho to chase him off, Yūko." Mitsuko then smirked. "I wouldn't have wanted to face something like_ that_!" _

_Yūko nodded as the horrible image of the Cyborg flashed before her mind's eye. She had got it with both barrels from Nakagawa Yūka about what she had provoked in the lighthouse on Oki-shima concerning Nanahara Shūya…though Yūko had been pretty much forgiven for doing that when the other girls learned that she had elected to atone for her actions by killing herself. What had been stranger was how Etō Megumi, Yahagi Yoshimi and Chigusa Takako had forgiven Mitsuko herself for what she had done to them on Oki-shima…which had totally mystified the other girl until Inada Mizuho had explained how the others had learned of the former prostitute's own past thanks to the Staff of Gihan explaining it to them in private. Given that something like being_ **raped as a child** _could have easily happened to_ **any** _of them, the would-be warrior-priestess told her old classmate, it was more than understandable that the others would now be quite sympathetic to Mitsuko's own attitudes towards life in general. _

_"She must be really happy deep down," Yūko then mused. _

_"She desires him," a voice then mused from behind them. "As, I suspect, do most of the poor women on this factory and all the ships around us at this time. Save for the four hundred or so that the friends of the Great Emperor of the Gokan just rescued." _

_Both girls turned as Inada Mizuho came up, using the Staff of Gihan as an oversized walking stick. "Will Ataru-kun take advantage of them?" Yūko then asked. _

_A shake of the head. "No. Lord Ataru has an extraordinary level of interest in our gender in comparison to other boys his age…but he has his standards as well. He would NEVER condone any act that brings a woman to harm." Mizuho then smirked. "I just came back from Tomobiki." _

_"What did you find?" Mitsuko wondered. _

_"A town in a state of total shock," Mizuho answered. "Even if they now know the truth of the Niphentaxians' false 'goddess,' the people there — save for a scant few — all view Lord Ataru as the source point of all that is evil that has haunted Tomobiki for years…even if that attitude itself truthfully first made itself known after Redet Hensō came into their lives. Just as the factory was being pulled out of the Phentax system, a battle squadron of the so-called 'Army of Lum' was making system-fall here to seize Earth." As the others gasped, Mizuho smirked. "The Lady Negako and the Lady K'ekhech were there to destroy the lot with a ki blast out of the 'holy city' itself plus the judicious use of a rather large anti-matter bomb buried under the town Ginza. What survivors were there were turned over to our Noukiite friends to be imprisoned on their prison planet of Hichkyech'eng." The smile then turned lethal. "Right after that — after the observers of the 'one true faith' were paraded before the citizens of Tomobiki — the Lady Negako gave a very convincing demonstration of her martial arts skills…then delivered the news that Lord Ataru himself now possesses those self-same skills. They didn't like learning that." _

_Yūko snorted. "It's like that old Noukiite saying we've heard: 'Treat someone like a pariah and he becomes a pariah.' They couldn't expect Ataru-kun to keep tolerating that abuse forever, you know. Even if he DID allow Negako-sensei to live inside him when he was just a little boy and didn't really know better." _

_"Good point," Mitsuko mused as she looked again on the image of Moroboshi Ataru still holding Mizuno Tomomi as the latter wept for her master. "Is Tomomi's master still alive?" _

_A shake of the head. "No. The good fellow was shot down right in front of Mistress Tomomi's eyes just as the recall began in earnest," Mizuho stated. _

_"Poor Tomomi-chan," Yūko whispered…_

* * *

"If you all want to know, Tomomi-san's in Canada."

All three girls perked, and then they turned as Ataru walked in from the kitchen with a basket full of fruit. "What's she doing, Ataru-kun?" Yukie then asked as he sat down in the reclining chair off to one side of the couch.

"She lives in the Niagara region of Ontario, close to where the old _Haida_ is docked," he admitted as he took a banana and peeled it. Sakura, Cherry and Tsubame had gone to the dōjō to look in on the others and Kotatsuneko had stepped outside to spend some time with the other cats that lived in the area. The people from Mahora had gone back to report what they had just learned to Konoe Konoemon for further action. "Don't know what her civilian job is, but she's a reserve soldier in the Canadian Army. Part of their 2nd/10th Dragoons regiment; they were on the new _Haida_ when we went out to Yaminokuni." A smirk. "She's actually a brevet major; commands one of their tank squadrons. Believe that?"

"Did she ever want you?" Noriko wondered.

A shake of the head. "Hai…but I couldn't do that to her, Noriko-san. Back then, she was looking for someone to take the place of her old master." Ataru sighed. "From what I could tell when I mind-probed her, he was an okay guy. Didn't see her as a sex doll with her own brain, but a very good friend." He gazed on the Shiroiwa girls. "She's bonded now; one of the other girls modelled after the _Dōkyūsei_ characters, Narusawa Yui. They're not ready to start a family, but that can change."

Noriko, Yukie and Mitsuko nodded. "So what happens to us now?" the latter then asked.

"Well, for today, you'll sleep inside the living room and the guest bedrooms," Ataru admitted. "Kumiko-chan and Megane are getting the others in my class mustered up to get some basic stuff for you all. Onē-san's organising bank accounts for you all with Toranoseishin Finances here in town. Once they're set up, we'll put in a million yen each for you to have so you can start up on your wardrobe and other things."

The visitors from another dimension gaped. "_**A MILLION YEN EACH?!**_" Yukie screamed.

Running footsteps heralded the arrival of a wide-eyed Noda Satomi. "Yukie! What's wrong?!" the bespectacled class genius demanded.

Yukie moaned. "Satomi! Talk some sense into him!" she snapped, waiving to Ataru. "He's getting Negako-sensei to set up bank accounts for each of us. We're getting a _**million**_ yen each so we can get clothes and other things!"

Satomi blinked as her dark brown eyes went VERY wide on hearing that amount…before she paused to do a quick mental calculation. She then snickered. "Oh, relax, Yukie!" she scolded the other woman. "The yen here isn't on parity with the American dollar." To Ataru. "What's the current exchange rate right now?"

"Roughly eighty-seven yen to the dollar," he provided.

Satomi hummed. "That would make a million yen here be worth a little over eleven thousand yen back home," she stated. "That's a pretty good nest-egg."

"And if that's not enough, there are other means to get more cash," Mitsuko mused.

Instantly, three scary monsters that looked somewhat akin to Noriko, Yukie and Satomi loomed over their classmate. "**_MITSUKO! GET IT THROUGH YOUR HEAD! YOU ARE_**** NOT ****_SELLING YOUR_**** BODY****_!_**" all three of them screamed out at the top of their lungs.

As Mitsuko looked very meek, Ataru stared at them before he shook his head.

Meeting one's favourite fictional characters as REAL PEOPLE could be disappointing.

But he had to admit, these girls would be a massive source of fun, too!

Now if he could only get Mitsuko to stop mentally _undressing_ him all the time…

* * *

As the afternoon progressed, a flock of curious and concerned Tomobiki High sophomores made their way to the Moroboshi home with bedding and other items that would be needed by the transplanted Shiroiwa Junior High seniors for the next while. They also brought with them home-cooked foods from their mothers to ensure that the Moroboshi family's new house guests would get some REAL food into their bodies after living off replicated food for so long. That fact of life hadn't been exactly true when it came to the Shiroiwa girls, though; that they had often raided supermarkets across Japan and other nations — after acquiring some spending money by using the Rōnin's Salvation on any petty criminal that caught Mizuho's attention via the Staff — wasn't mentioned by Nakagawa Yūka, who was seen as the one in charge of all food issues with their class.

"Minna-san, you didn't need to do this for us!" Noriko had protested on seeing how much food had been brought in; such was now being moved into the basement freezer of the old guest house to keep it preserved for the time being.

"Forget it, Noriko-chan!" Marubeya Momoe stated with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Soon as our moms got the word, they wouldn't hear of anything else!"

The younger girls nodded their thanks as they relaxed in the dōjō; as it was the largest space inside the Moroboshi home, it was selected as the place for the impromptu meet-and-greet party that was now underway. "So you guys — once you realised you were in a different dimension and free of that hellhole you came from — stayed on the factory because you were scared of being sent home, right?" Shitto "Perm" Kōsuke asked.

"Perm…!" Megane snarled.

"It's alright, Satoshi-sempai," Yukie stated with a smile. "And to answer your question, Kōsuke-sempai, we did believe it. Some of us…" — she gazed in sympathy at Satomi when she said that — "…still do believe it because our souls arose in our home dimension and time. You have to admit, the whole thing about interdimensional travel can get pretty confusing to a bunch of normal teenagers like us."

"Well, would you want to stay?" Urayamu "Chibi" Akira then wondered.

"Of course we would!" Yukie stated. "This place is _Paradise_ compared to where we came from! At least here, Shūya-kun could become a rock star like he's always wanted to be! Shō-kun would never have to fear for his life because he's gay! All of us who are bonded or who will be bonded won't have to fear discrimination either! We've seen all the news on the Internet about how everyone on Earth opened their doors to the Avalonians! We've Avalonians now! We want to feel…" She then sniffed.

Noriko instantly took the other girl into her arm as Yukie began to weep. Gazing at them, the Tomobiki students could only bow their eyes in sympathy to what the Shiroiwa students had recently — in their own point-of-view — gone through. Watching this from beyond the open doorway of the dōjō, Negako could only sigh. Ataru and Kaga stood to either side of her. "They felt totally abandoned when they woke up in that classroom on Oki-shima and faced Kamon, Onē-san," Ataru whispered. "Totally rejected by their society, forced to renounce everything they understood of civilisation…for what?!"

"We will need to learn the history of the Greater East Asia Republic," Negako quietly stated. "Find the primary point of divergence between their timeline and ours. It said in the original novel that Japan did win the Greater East Asia War."

"How could that have been done?" Kaga hissed out. "Japan didn't have the logistics necessary to maintain a sustained war against _America_ of all countries."

The ninjutsu grandmaster hummed as she considered that before calling out, "A question, girls!" As everyone gazed on her, Negako then asked, "How exactly did Japan win the Greater East Asia War against the Allied Powers? Weapons of mass destruction?"

"Biological and chemical weapons created by Unit 731, carried across the Pacific on balloons as part of Operation: Fū-go, Sensei," Satomi answered as all of the Tomobiki students visibly winced on hearing that report. "They hit the American nuclear research site in New Mexico sometime in early 1943 and killed off a whole tonne of people. Along the way, Japan's nuclear projects went on ahead. It really got a strong kick-off when the Nazis turned against the Shōwa Emperor and Churchill arranged for a cease-fire in Europe to allow the Allies to concentrate on Japan. That enraged Iosef Stalin to the point where he made an alliance with Japan to allow both countries' nuclear bomb programs to go ahead with Soviet uranium and plutonium. We detonated our first bomb in the spring of 1945 at Pikinni Atoll. The Americans — because they had lost so many scientists thanks to Fū-go — were just starting to catch up. The Soviets then used their bomb to destroy Berlin. In retaliation, the Nazis used U-boats to fire nuclear-tipped V-2s at Moscow, Tōkyō and Kyōto in the late summer of 1945." A sigh. "The missile fired on Moscow fell far short of target. But the missiles fired on Japan hit home. We lost the whole Imperial Family."

"Thus effectively allowing the Greater East Asia Republic to be born," Ataru finished.

"Hai."

"That's horrible!" Kumiko hissed out.

"So the war ended in nuclear stalemate," Ataru finished. "Damn…"

"And it's been that way ever since," Noriko finished. "The Cold War, just like you had it here…but with _**three**_ main power factions. America and NATO. Russia and the old states of the Soviet Union; they became independent in the late 1950s after Stalin-daitōryō died and reforms were launched. And then there's the Greater East Asia Republic and the other nations of the Oriental Commonwealth. The nations of the Third World don't normally want anything to do with America or Europe. For most of the past fifty years, Russia has often been quite sympathetic to us."

"Is it still ongoing in your time?" Megane asked.

A nod. "Hai, Sempai."

"Where were you and Shūya when that thing yanked your souls out, Noriko-chan?" Daremo "Kakugari" Hiroyuki asked as he pointed to Mizuho and the Staff.

"On the trawler that Shinji-kun's aunt arranged to transport us to America," Noriko confessed. "Ataru-kun told me that in the manga series, we waited in Kōbe with some friends of Shōgo-kun's father for three months before we left the country."

"That's because _The Program_ was a once-a-year thing, right?" Perm asked Ataru.

The former Terran tag race champion nodded. "I think so."

"Since our _Program_ is a once-a-week occurrence, an underground organisation rose up over the years. It's always ready to kick in whenever players escape," Satomi added. "Shinji-kun's uncle and aunt were part of it, as were friends of Shōgo-kun's father." She then glanced at Mitsuko. "So was Mitsuko's father. He was a junior high teacher in an all-girls school in Takamatsu."

Gasps escaped the Tomobiki natives as they gazed on Mitsuko. "Did your dad try to rescue his class from playing in _The Program_, Mitsuko-chan?" Megane asked.

A nod. "Hai. Tō-chan overheard one of the NADA bastards telling his principal about it before they would've been dragged off to one of the islands around Shikoku — not Oki-shima, of course — to have them play the game. He arranged to have the bus be ambushed by some friends before the NADA would have snared them, but…"

"Mitsu's mom ratted him out to the authorities," Hirono finished for her friend. "He ran away from home, but got caught a year afterward and was shot dead."

Everyone jolted. "Did you know about this before you went to Oki-shima?" Perm asked.

A shake of the head. "No. Eventually found it out thanks to Mizuho and the Staff after we got here," Mitsuko confessed. "If I'd known that back then…" A sigh. "Oh, well. The bitch is dead anyway. I'd like Tō-chan to come back, but…" A shake of the head. "Well, no matter what, we're saving all of Tō-chan's old class."

"No one survived from that episode," Kanai Izumi added. As people gazed on her, she shrugged. "It tends to go that way with the all-girl classes."

The others all nodded…and then they perked on hearing a materialiser echo from outside. "There you are," Negako stated as she looked over her shoulder.

"Sorry I'm so late, Negako-onēsan!" a young woman's voice called out.

People then watched as a pretty brown-haired girl with dark brown eyes walked into the dōjō, a large dataPADD in hand. "Lady Ayami," Mizuho declared, which made the other Shiroiwa girls gasp on realising who the newcomer was. "I trust we're not imposing on your day by forcing you down from the gallant _Haida_ to aid we poor, humble selves."

Hakaru "Jun'iku Bunjaku" Ayami could only just gape at the sight of the twenty-one living impossibilities before her before she sighed. "Right…"

* * *

Unnoticed by her, one of the Shiroiwa girls had become as white as a sheet for a moment before she seemed to deflate as her heart — which was now pumping at the speed of a jackhammer — swelled up within her chest to nearly choke her.

_She sure has_ my _seal of approval…!_ a blissful Yūka thought out…

* * *

Of course, both Mizuho and Negako had been quick to sense what had just happened when it came to the most jovial of the girls of Class 3B.

A knowing look was then exchanged between the would-be warrior-priestess of the Wise Lord of Zoroastrianism and the grandmaster of the Path of the Supreme Life…

* * *

Nightfall…

"There you are."

Mizuho perked on hearing that voice, and then she turned as Ataru straightened himself from having done a standing leap off the backyard onto the gently-sloping roof of the conjoining wing between the old Moroboshi house and the old guest house over the west-side hallway that connected Ataru's bedroom and his sister Tariko's bedroom to the second floor of the guest house where Ataru's other sister Hiromi and her lovers lived. Both were facing off to the west, watching the sun set over the line of mountains from Fuji-san all the way past the huge cluster of mountains to Tōkyō's west to Akagi-yama almost due north of the Moroboshi home. The Staff of Gihan was floating a half-metre off the roof itself to Mizuho's left rear. Ataru placed himself on the would-be warrior-priestess' right side, glad that the roof was sloped gently enough that he didn't have to fear sliding off and hurting himself. "It's beautiful," she said as she tucked her legs into her arms and leaned her chin on her knees. "Almost as beautiful as the plateaus of present-day Afghanistan where the Prophet first rose."

"Zaraϑuštra-sensei?"

Mizuho smiled on hearing that from Ataru; he had pronounced the man's name with a very tolerable accent. "Aye." She then giggled. "Methinks the Prophet would be quite shocked to hear how I came to embrace what he preached as my own faith."

"You still play _Dungeons and Dragons_?"

She jerked…before a delighted laugh escaped her. "I've not had the chance or the inclination," she then admitted as she reached over to gently grasp his hand. "When I became one with the Staff, I was exposed to things I never could have dreamt of back home in Shiroiwa. And I wanted to see as much of it as I could." She winked at him. "When I wasn't distracted, of course, by helping the others feel safe."

"It was Yūko-chan, right?"

She blinked on sensing the full question he wanted to ask before nodding. "Aye. Remember that we woke on the bioroid factory in the instant after we died on Oki-shima. You're aware of what Yūko did after her fears provoked the massacre at the lighthouse."

A sigh. "Deep down, I can't blame her for feeling that way."

"You are happy we're here."

Ataru nodded. "Who wouldn't be? Granted, I couldn't have imagined that _Battle Royale_ would turn out to be REAL someplace in the Universe…even if I did know about alternate dimensions and timelines; Onē-san taught me all about them," he added on seeing Mizuho's curious look. "But look at it this way," he said as he gave her hand a firm squeeze. "You were all condemned to die for some stupid reason by a government that didn't see you as human beings. You were just cannon-fodder to feed into the meat-grinder that's called _The Program_." He shrugged. "I kinda wished Taguchi-sensei would have done more to expand on people like you when he made the manga series based on Takami-sensei's book."

Her cheeks instantly coloured. "Me…?"

A nod. "Yeah. You _**are**_ the most unique character of your class."

She gazed at him. "You flatter me."

"No, I'm telling the truth."

Both gazed at each other, and then Mizuho leaned in…

* * *

The dōjō…

"Alright! She's making a score…"

Negako blinked on hearing Hirono's delighted hiss, and then she sipped her tea. "I doubt Ataru will seek to relieve Mizuho of her virginity this very evening, Hirono," she then stated, which made the spiky-haired girl jolt in shock as her cheeks turned a flaming red. "But it may happen soon. There is much compatibility between Ataru and Mizuho. It would not surprise me if they form a _marei'cha_ bond."

Hirono — and Satomi, who was seated beside Negako and Kaga in the middle of the dōjō enjoying evening tea — blinked on hearing that. "But…I mean…"

"True, under normal circumstances, a _marei'cha_ bond occurs between two people of the same gender. But bonds between men and women are also possible, Hirono."

Hirono blinked as she took that in, and then she sighed. "Damn…"

"What about Shikuko-sempai and Miyako-san?" Satomi asked.

Negako lightly smiled. "Shikuko was bisexual even before she became an Avalonian, Satomi. That is quite common with many female tōshi whose magatama bear the souls of men from that age. Atop that, the emotional bonds between Lǚ Bù and Chén Gōng were quite strong right to the day they died. Those bonds grew stronger and stronger as time went on and they reincarnated again and again. In this incarnation, Shikuko discovered her sexuality quite early in life and began experimenting with Miyako; both were childhood friends." She sipped her tea before gazing in amusement at Kaga. "If they had _**not**_ bonded after they became Avalonians, it would have honestly surprised me."

The former Steel Angel giggled on hearing that. Satomi and Hirono took that in, and then the latter moved to sit down beside her friend. "So we still have a chance," Class 3B's resident genius then breathed out before sipping her tea.

"You witnessed his behaviour on the bioroid factory during the month following our liberation of it," Negako noted as she gazed on the bespectacled teen. "That would make an impression on any person. Especially those such as yourselves given what you experienced on Ok-…"

"Please don't send us back!"

The others jolted on hearing Satomi's fearful plea, and then Negako gazed contently at her. "You will never have to return to that dimension if you do not desire it, Satomi," the ninjutsu grandmaster stated, putting enough authority in her voice to make the younger woman listen to her and take heed. "You made a small error when it came to understanding the laws of interdimensional travel. It is the place where your BODY came into physical being that matters, not the SOUL. The soul — according to Sagussan mythos — comes from the Te'a at birth and returns to the Te'a on death. Even if you are Japanese and were raised as an adherent of the modified version of what historians here call 'state Shintō,' you are — thanks to your proximity to the Staff of Gihan — currently subjected to Fourth Republic Sagussan spiritual influences."

"So we can stay here, right? Settle down, get bonded to the girls we love, have normal teenage lives and don't have to worry about _The Program_ — or the bastards that supported the damned thing — coming back to haunt us?" Hirono asked.

Negako nodded. "Yes."

Hearing that, Hirono seemed to deflate. "Thanks the gods…"

"How could I have made such a mistake…?"

Hirono reached over to gently squeeze a misty-eyed Satomi's shoulder. "Chill, Tomi," the former prostitute stated. "Remember what the Staff told us about our Awakenings?"

The other Shiroiwa girl blinked…and then she slowly nodded. "That because our souls were pulled through the Te'a from our dimension to here, we would be quite sensitive to It." A smirk. "It still made sense to me. Even if the Te'a exists in all things, parallel dimensions and alternate timelines do exist; we're living proof of that. So if we were born back in the Republic in our dimension…"

"Yeah, even a dummy like me could agree to that," Hirono noted. She then blinked on sensing something radiate from the direction of the yard beyond the dōjō's main entrance. "Oh, fuck!" she breathed out as she got up to look.

Satomi followed her to the doorway, where they stopped to see Ataru carry a giddy Mizuho in his arms through the back door of the old guest house inside. A quick glance towards the roof of the connecting wing revealed the Staff of Gihan phasing itself through the tiled roof into Ataru's bedroom; all the girls of Shiroiwa who desired Ataru in some way knew exactly where his bedroom was in relation to the other parts of the house. "Way to go, Mizu," Hirono then whispered as her eyes misted over.

"Agreed. If anyone deserves true happiness, it's her," Satomi added.

Gentle hands landed on their shoulders. "Go seek your own happiness," Negako then bade. "I would desire you to be up early tomorrow morning so I can analyse your calisthenics program, then wish to teach you some tàijíquán before we let you go shopping and arrange for the construction of your new living quarters."

Both girls gazed on the ninjutsu grandmaster, and then they nodded…

* * *

The guest bedroom in the old Moroboshi home (Hiromi's old bedroom), minutes later…

Even if the Shiroiwa girls would be forever bound together with emotional chains as strong as the purest form of natural neutronium by their shared experiences of _The Program_, their deaths in their particular "episode" in that sickest of all games — save for Nakagawa Noriko, of course — and their rebirth aboard the bioroid factory and the five months they acclimatised themselves in their new universe and time period, they still divided themselves into cliques in an echo of who was friends with who back in a more innocent time before a fateful bus trip one weekend in July 2000.

Mitsuko's gang of three was one such clique.

But said "gang" — if it could be thought of that now — had expanded a bit.

After the bonding of Kusaka Yumiko and Kitano Yukiko — as they were the only "married" couple of the Shiroiwa girls, both had been given the guest bedroom right under the expanded part of Ataru's bedroom for themselves — in late March, other girls had started to feel the urge to seek out potential _marei'cha_ amongst their peers.

Sōma Mitsuko — as well as Shimizu Hirono and Yahagi Yoshimi — were three of them.

The actual "choices" the three ex-prostitutes made _**had**_ stunned the others.

Especially the girls who won Mitsuko's and Hirono's hearts.

"I still gotta admit, Saku…you have the most perfect tits of us all."

Ogawa Sakura flustered on hearing her say that, and then she sighed before gazing in mock-annoyance at Hirono as the other girl closed the door of their guest bedroom and moved to undress. "You're still a foul-mouthed bitch, Hirono!" the tomboyish yet still very attractive girl with the short-cut dark brown hair and the turquoise eyes muttered before she allowed Hirono to take her into her arms from behind.

Hirono's tongue gently lapped at the curve of Sakura's earlobe, which made the other girl quake in ecstasy. "I mean it, you know," she playfully purred into Sakura's ear, keeping her voice down as the other girls in the room were all fast asleep.

"Pity it never happened between us," Sakura said as she turned around to allow her well-shaped talent to press into her friend's. "But then again…"

"You had a guy — and a fucking handsome one at that — before we came here," the other girl mused before they shared a kiss. "I always envied that about you, Saku."

"Well, Ataru-kun seems a decent-enough fellow," Sakura noted as she gave Hirono an encouraging look. "Amazes me that so many of his classmates and the people in this town still think the worst about him. Why do they do that?"

"Deep down, they liked the idea of having a guy they could blame all their troubles on. Saved them all from thinking things through and getting to the bottom of what was really going down in this place. Problem with most folks — no matter where you go — is that they're too fuckin' lazy. It's no wonder that mob mentality is so easy to stir up. Remember all the political rallies back in the Republic?" At Sakura's nod, Hirono grinned. "And since Negako-sensei was letting him take the hits for all the times he tried to chat up with a girl, they didn't think he'd become a serious threat. Remember what Mizu said about what she discovered in Tomobiki after we made system-fall?"

Sakura smirked. "The end of the world. Too bad." She then let Hirono go. "Maybe you should team up with Mizuho, Mitsuko and Satomi to form 'Ataru's Stormtroopers.'"

A snicker. "That would hit these morons like a damned ICBM!"

Sakura giggled before she turned to slip herself onto the futon holding a blissfully sleeping Yoshimi. As Yamamoto Kazuhiko's girlfriend moved to make herself more comfortable while allowing as much maximum skin contact between herself and her future bond-mate — like many of the Shiroiwa girls, who were too used to the idea of wearing some sort of sleepwear, Sakura had kept her panties on — as possible, Hirono took a deep breath before she gazed on Mitsuko, who was currently cradled in the arms of Etō Megumi. Seeing the blissful looks on their faces, Hirono sighed as she moved to slip off her bra and panties before she knelt down beside the girl that had taken her heart.

Minami Kaori.

_Go figure!_ Hirono sighed as she slipped under the covers beside her lover.

Who would ever think that a hard-nosed street kid like Shimizu Hirono would become lovers with a pampered R-pop lover like Minami Kaori of all people?

_If there is a Kami that controls_ marei'cha _bondings, She has a fuckin' weird sense of humour!_ the former teenage prostitute mused to herself as she reached up to gently thread her fingers through Kaori's silky black hair. Staring at that angelic face dimpled with all those cute freckles — which was a damned sight better than the acne scars Kaori had in her old body; that had been the source-point of the "Pizza Face" insults many of her peers had used on her back in Shiroiwa — and the very cute bits of baby fat she still had, Hirono shuddered lightly as she moved to gently pull Kaori closer to her. _Still, can't really complain_, she then added.

«About what?»

Hirono blinked on noting Kaori's sapphire blue eyes were now open and gazing fondly at her; the room's overhead light was turned off but the small lamp on the work table off to one side was on and turned down to its lowest setting; no doubt, Mitsuko had done that to ensure a greater sense of safety as the lights couldn't be totally turned off in Tower #98. «Can't complain about our being together,» she telepathically thought out as she gently stroked her fingers over her lover's cheek. «Never figured that a girl like you would actually want some street gutter trash like me.»

«Hirono-vayae, stop that!» Kaori gently scolded before leaning in and kissing her on the lips. «We're no longer inside that living Holocaust-waiting-to-happen called the 'Greater East Asia Republic.' We're here in a much more _civilised_ Japan with people who want to help us and care for us.» She then giggled. «Atop that, the guy who gave us both wonderful wet dreams the night we realised we were meant for each other knows we're here and wants us to live here. We can be with him now…»

«Yeah…if his girls don't fuckin' murder us in our sleep!»

Kaori gave Hirono a stern look. «Language!»

The taller girl looked contrite. «Sorry…»

They stared at each other, and then shared another kiss before Kaori moved to lean her head on Hirono's left arm. «I wouldn't worry about it too much,» the former then mused. «Shikuko-sempai was born bi; Mizuho-chan told us that. She and Miyako-san were lovers long before either of them met Ataru. They bonded the instant they became Avalonians after those awful girls tried to kill them before the attack on the house here by the Urusians and the Niphentaxians; Mizuho-chan told us that, too.» She gave Hirono a sultry look. «All we have to do is make them realise that since we all are Avalonians — thus subject to Avalonian genetics — and that none of them are _marei'cha_-bonded to the man we also desire…» She then winked. «In the end…»

«We will get that man to make us women, Kaori-vayae…»

They shared a warm, tongue-filled kiss before relaxing themselves as sleep overcame them, thus ending the first _true_ day of their new lives…

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

1) The **Planet of Shadows** was created by Mike Smith for _The Senior Year_ story "Nassur's Story." Its physical form would actually be influenced by the Dyson sphere that appeared in the _Star Trek - The Next Generation_ sixth-season episode "Relics," which was first broadcast in 1992 while both of us were attending Brock University in Saint Catharines. The **Crystal Palace** where the Sceptre of Lecasur/Genesis Wand of Parah was stored is influenced by the location of the same name from the first half of the second season of the _Sailor Moon_ anime series (the Dark Moon story arc). And the **Keeper** was created by Mike for "Nassur's Story;" he originally postulated this character as an alternate-universe version of _Ataru_ of all people…but as we developed the _TSY_ storyline further, we dropped that particular aspect of him.

As an aside, the inhabitants of the Planet of Shadows were a race of Cybermen/Borg-like beings Mike and I called the **Kurosans**, who would have resided within the great Dyson sphere five billion years ago. They would have been destroyed in an apocalyptic war with the **A'g'sans** (**Shogai Dakejinzō**'s race; she was introduced in the _TSY_ story "Arrive Reiko-chan") due to the Kurosans running a gladiatorial-type game using players brought across time and dimensional barriers. This would have, as we originally planned it, played up in a sequel series to _TSY_.

2) One **septillion** is a number that has _twenty-four_ zeroes following the "1" (i.e. 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000). As an idea of how big such a number is, the physical mass of the Earth itself is postulated to be nearly six septillion kilograms (or roughly six **sextillion** tonnes).

3) What happened to Shigeru and his friends is similar to what happened to the character of **Ayara** in the first half of the "Great Father Ataru" saga in _TSY_. **Hifuto Syndrome** is an intergalactic disease I once wrote of as "leprosy with an attitude," but eventually incorporated the effects of **Ebola** into it after I read Tom Clancy's novel _Executive Orders_. I mention Hifuto in the _Phoenix From the Ashes_ side-story _Let Us Have Peace_; it was the first outbreak of that illness on Vos nearly a millennia ago that eventually forged a deep cultural respect between Vosians and Noukiites.

4) **Klüver-Bucy Syndrome**, according to the textbook definition, develops when there is bilateral lesions (long scarring) of the **amygdalae**, which are the glands inside the human brain — located deep inside the medial temporal lobes (the part of the brain closest to the nasal cavity and the cerebellum at the top of the spinal column) — that control both memory and emotional reactions. Given the evidence of Kiriyama Kazuo's childhood accident as shown in the flashback scenes in the _Battle Royale_ manga story "God's Child" (manga episode #110), the whiplash effect that hurt him damaged the amygdalae in his brain enough to totally destroy his ability to emote…but at the same time, it allowed his intelligence to shine to a degree that might not have been possible had the accident never occurred in the first place. The reason I had Shōgo state that what Kazuo suffered from was an "odd version" of Klüver-Bucy is that he doesn't suffer from any form of hyper-sexuality (a heightened sex drive) like **Sōma Mitsuko** demonstrates thanks to what her stepfather did to her when she was a child…though Kazuo does show signs of docility, which is a classic Klüver-Bucy symptom.

5) Translations: **Ashi'cha** — Elder Mother, the spiritual/moral female leader of a traditional Sagussan community; **Avesta** — The Zoroastrian version of the Bible where all the sacred texts of the faith have been collected, which (like the Bible) was composed over the course of several hundred years (the name of this work also provides the name of the language the work was written in, **Avestan**); **Navjote** — The official ceremony when someone is properly welcomed into the Zoroastrian faith; **Cislunar** — Inside the orbital line of the Moon; **Kōbun** — Literally "foster child," this is the title given to the underlings of a Yakuza boss (or **Oyabun**, which means "foster father"); **Gokan** — Japanese way of saying the Mandarin characters **Hòuhàn** (literally meaning "Latter Hàn"), thus marking the dynastic period in Chinese history from 25-220 C.E.; **Pikinni** — The native name for one of the most well-known post-World War Two nuclear test sites used by the Americans for the **Operation: Crossroads** tests done on 1 July 1946 and 25 July 1946, **Bikini Atoll** in the Marshall Islands; **Tàijíquán** — The proper Pīnyīn Romanisation of what is normally written as **T'ai Chi Ch'uan** (literally "Supreme Ultimate Fist"), the name of the famous Chinese martial/meditative art form; **Vayae** — Sagussan suffix honorific which means "my darling" or "my dearest" and is used as a term of affection.

6) I borrowed the idea of **Kanai Izumi**'s brother — whether she has one or not is not confirmed in the manga — being a passionate _Program_ fan from one of the fanfics that, in effect, inspired this story: _Heads Is Heads_ by **Technomad**, which is listed as one of my favourites at this website.

7) The location names for all the territories of the **Greater East Asia Republic** (in Japanese, **Daitōa-kyōwakoku** and shortformed in English as **RGEA**):

**Chishima-rettō** — The **Kuril' Islands** extending from the northeast corner of Hokkaidō all the way to the Kamčatka Peninsula in Siberia;

**Takasago** — The old Japanese name for **Táiwān**;

**Karafuto** — The island of **Saxalin**, due north of Hokkaidō;

**Izu-shotō** — The **Izu Islands** directly south of Tōkyō;

**Ogasawara-guntō** — The **Bonin Islands**, which form a separate island chain south-of-southeast from the southern tip of the Izu Islands;

**Kazan-rettō** — The **Volcano Islands**, which are a small chain of islands to the southwest of the southern Bonin Islands. **Iwo-jima** — today called _Iō-tō_ — is one of these islands; and

**Nan'yō-chō** — The "South Sea Mandate" of former Imperial German islands which include the **Marianas Islands**, the **Caroline Islands**, the **Marshall Islands** and **Palau**. This territory, in real life, would be later known as the **Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands** when it came under American occupation after World War Two.

Also counted amongst the Nan'yō-chō islands is the former American territory of **Guam**, which was captured in 1941 by the Japanese…and would be claimed by the RGEA in the universe the Shiroiwa girls come from since Guam is strategically located in the middle of the territory of the Nan'yō-chō.

Of course, the **Home Islands** of **Honshū**, **Hokkaidō**, **Shikoku** and **Kyūshū** — including all close neighbouring islands like **Tsu-shima** off the northwest coast of Kyūshū and **Sadoga-shima** off the northern coast of Honshū — and the islands of the **Ryūkyū-shotō** such as Okinawa form the "core home territory" of the RGEA.

As an aside, the islands of **Cheju-do** off the southwest corner of the Korean peninsula — not to mention **Ullŭng-do** and the **Tok-do** islets in the East Sea/Sea of Japan — are seen by the Republic as part of the territory of the **Great Republic of Korea** (in Korean, **Taejosŏn-konghwaguk**, shortformed as **RGK** in English)…which was allowed its independence in 1945 after the establishment of the RGEA and is part of the **Oriental Commonwealth of Nations** (**OCN**) along with China (not including an independent Tibet and Xīnjiāng, both of whom are also part of the OCN), a unified Indochina (which would include the territories of modern-day Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos), Thailand, Myanmar (Burma), Malaysia (including Singapore), Brunei and Indonesia (the Phillipines are occupied by the RGEA, but the natives were fighting hard for their independence at the time the Shiroiwa class went to Oki-shima).

Also, the East Sea/Sea of Japan is addressed in the universe of the RGEA as **Kita Daitoa-kai** in Japanese and **Pukdaedong'a-hae** in Korean; both names translate to "Northern Greater East Asia Sea." This is to differentiate it from what is known in reality as the East China Sea between the Ryūkyū-shotō and mainland China; in the RGEA universe, this body of water is called the **Naka Daitoa-kai** in Japanese, **Chungdaedong'a-hae** in Korean and **Zhōngdàdōngyà-hǎi** in Chinese, which all mean "Central Greater East Asia Sea."

8) The **Imperial Corps of Executioners** was first introduced in the _TSY_ story "Ancient Ties."

9) _Dōkyūsei_ (literally meaning "Classmates") was first introduced in 1992 by the **ELF** company for the NEC PC-9801 micro-computer as the first of a new breed of video games, which eventually evolved into the modern **dating simulation** genre. The original game eventually inspired a four-episode OVA series which was later brought over to English audiences under the title _End of Summer_; such was released in North America by the SoftCel imprint of AD Vision in the mid-1990s. This particular anime became quite well-renowned for its above-average depth of character depiction, its romantic storyline and high (for the time period) animation quality. _Dōkyūsei_ would later be modified to work on more modern computer systems and for the Sega Saturn video game system.

**Mizuno Tomomi** and **Narusawa Yui** are two of the characters of the sequel series, called _Dōkyūsei 2_, which came out in 1995 in a DOS version and was later modified for Windows, Sega Saturn, PlayStation and Super Famicom. The storyline of the second game was translated over to a twelve-episode OVA series which was released in 1998. Unlike the original series OVAs, the _Dōkyūsei 2_ OVAs have not been translated into English as of 2012, even by fan-subbers.

In the storyline, Yui is the player character's quasi-sister figure; the player lives in an apartment over a café that's owned by Yui's mother **Narusawa Misako**, who was once the lover of the player's father. The symbolisation of winning Yui's love in the game is to remove the plaid ribbons tying her hair up in side buns over her ears. As for Tomomi, she is a childhood friend of the player who gets into trouble when a lecherous fellow manages to take compromising pictures of her and blackmails her into posing nude for him. The player character naturally acts to save his friend…and thus, earns a special reward from Tomomi. In the OVAs, Tomomi's story was covered in episode 2.

10) Like Gekasawa Kumiko, **Marubeya Momoe** also is a minor _Yatsura_ character. She first appeared in the same manga episode that Kumiko did (as noted in the last part).

11) **Unit 731** (officially the "Epidemic Prevention and Water Purification Department of the Kantō Army") was Japan's top-secret biological-warfare and chemical-warfare research unit that was active before and during World War Two. Operating from 1935-45 in northeast China, it was responsible for many of the war crimes committed during that conflict on the native population. However, given the considerable political and military necessities of the Cold War that began right afterward, those who were involved in Unit 731 were granted amnesties by the American occupying authorities after the surrender in 1945. The **Kantō Army** (known often by the Mandarin name "Guāndōng Army") was the Imperial Japanese Army formation that was formed in 1905 to protect the **Guāndōng Leased Territory** (_Guāndōng_ meaning "east of Shānhǎi Guān," which was one of the major passes of the Great Wall of China in modern-day Qínhuángdǎo City of China's Héběi Province) on the southern part of the Liáodōng Peninsula where the city of **Lǚshùnkǒu** (known historically as "Port Arthur" to the West and "Ryojun" to the Japanese) was located. This was also the formation that — thanks very much to the influence of the **Kōdōha** ("Imperial Way Faction") group that advocated the overthrow of civilian government and the installation of a militarist regime — provoked the **Liǔtiáohú Incident** (known more commonly as the "Mukden Incident") of 18 September 1931 which effectively instigated the invasion of Manchuria that year and (in one sense of the term) launched World War Two in earnest.

As an aside, **Operation: Fū-go** — the name was taken from the term _fūsen bakudan_ ("balloon bomb") — was a last-ditch attempt by the Imperial Japanese forces to attack America directly by use of hydrogen-filled balloons fitted with anti-personnel or incendiary bombs which were launched from Japan and rode the jet stream over the Pacific to strike directly deep into North America. In real life, Operation: Fū-go was launched on 3 November 1944 and continued until sometime in April of next year. Of the over 9,300 "fire balloons" launched, only one device managed to cause casualties: On 5 May 1945, a balloon came down onto the slopes of Gearhart Mountain in south-central Oregon, where it was found by Pastor Archie Mitchell, his then-pregnant wife Elise and five of their charges. In the explosion that followed, Mrs. Mitchell and all the children were killed. Due to the potential demoralising effects of such devices — and the possible fear of Unit 731 using Operation: Fū-go as a means of launching a biological-warfare attack on North America — press censors tried to keep the potential success of such balloon attacks out of the news…though later analysis concluded that the incident on Gearhart Mountain might have been prevented if the public was aware of such a threat coming in from Japan.

12) **Hakaru Ayami** (**Jun'iku Bunjaku**) was first introduced in Part 11 of _Phoenix From the Ashes_.

13) Like all other factual information concerning Zaraϑuštra Spitāma, his land of birth has not been properly pinned down. In Verses 9 and 17 of the **Yasna** (which is Avestan for "worship"), the primary collection of texts in the Avesta, the Prophet's homeland was called **Airyanem Vaējah** (literally "expanse of the Arayans"), which was one of sixteen "perfect lands" marked by Ahura Mazdā for those who worshipped him to live in. According to some historical researchers, Airyanem Vaējah lies in modern Afghanistan. Other people claim that **Khwarezm** — located in modern-day Uzbekistan on the southern shores of the now-dried up Aral Sea — is the site of Airyanem Vaējah.

14) What is often called **State Shintō** never truthfully existed. During the period between the start of the Meiji Restoration in 1868 and the end of World War Two in 1945, there never was any version of the native Japanese religion that was actually declared a "state religion" as the Anglican Church could be seen as the official "state religion" of England. What DID happen, however, was that various Shintō practices came under heavy government influence as a means of helping to transform Japan from a feudalistic rural society into a modern industrial state which could face the nations of Europe and America on equal terms. Part of this influence helped the government ensure the loyalty of the common people by emphasising the divinity of the Emperor (properly known as **Tennō** ["Heavenly Sovereign"]) as a direct descendant of the Japanese sun goddess **Amaterasu-Ōmikami**…and the **Kokutai** (literally "national structure") concept which personified the sovereignty of the Japanese people and race upon the person of the Heavenly Sovereign.

Government influence on Shintō shrines — as well as claims of divinity by the Heavenly Sovereign and the emphasis on _kokutai_ — was eliminated after the end of World War Two as part of the demilitarisation and democratisation of Japan as imposed by the Allies.

15) **R-pop** (short for "Republic pop music") is my term for "acceptable" pop music in the Greater East Asia Republic. As fans of _Battle Royale_ know, **Minami Kaori** is a passionate fan of **Kenzaki Jun'ya** and his band **Flip Side**. Since there was no explanation in the manga series as to how Flip Side could operate in a place like the Greater East Asia Republic, I run with the supposition that certain acts are permitted to operate with restrictions…and, no doubt, a lot of censorship.


	3. Reunion Through The Te'a

_Somewhere in time and space… _

_"Damn! Back in this place again…" _

_Taking a deep breath, Nanahara Shūya looked around for a moment as he mentally willed his normal school gakuran — a copy of which had been made by his Niphentaxian hosts in real-time so he didn't have to wear that skin-tight gestation suit his new body had been sheathed in when it was templated to his DNA — over his nude body. "Some place in the Te'a…" he sighed on noting the smoky clouds all around him that reminded him of the interior of the Mutara Nebula from the second _Star Trek_ film when the U.S.S. _Enterprise_ lured in the U.S.S. _Reliant_ under Khan Noonien Singh's control to fully even the odds and put down the Augment leader once and for all. "Now where the heck could…?" _

_The scene around him then solidified into a familiar large kitchen area. "The lighthouse…" the male survivor of Episode 56/30 of _The Program_ — Kiriyama Kazuo had figured out the actual production code for Shiroiwa's involvement in that "game" — breathed out as he looked around before he turned to gaze out the window. "Weird…" he mused on seeing the typical horizon one would view while inside the Planet of Shadows, the trapped sun at the core of the great Dyson sphere high in the sky with the upward-curving ground line off to either side. "Too damned weird…" _

_"Shūya…" _

_He tensed on hearing that female voice, and then he turned… _

_…as the door opened to reveal a beautiful girl with grey-highlighted black hair done in long French braids from behind her ears and smoky grey eyes peeking out of a kind face. She was dressed in the standard Shiroiwa girl's seifuku…though much to Shūya's relief, the damned Personal Electronic Surveillance and Restraint System collar wasn't wrapped around Utsumi Yukie's neck. "Yukie…" he whispered. _

_She blinked on hearing that wonderful voice, and then she looked over. A delighted grin crossed her face as she ran over to him, swamping him with a passionate embrace. As Shūya returned that hug — he knew this was a dream and this version of Yukie wasn't the real girl resurrected by the Staff of Gihan five months ago — he gazed into that face before blinking in shock as she leaned up to kiss him hard on the lips. _

_Despite his personal vow made on the memory of his best friend Kuninobu Yoshitoki — who was now alive and well on the Planet of Shadows — to protect Nakagawa Noriko from harm while they were trying to stay alive on Oki-shima, Shūya allowed himself to respond to the obvious desire of this beautiful dream version of Yukie as their hands started to roam over each other's bodies. After a moment, they stumbled over to the lounge area at one side of the room, collapsing onto one of the couches there as their hands started to tear at each other's clothes. A minute more after that, both were effectively nude as Yukie moved to mount the man she had desired for so long, and then she deftly allowed him to sink right into her body. _

_Within minutes — as it seemed to Shūya — both climaxed very hard, and then Yukie groaned out as she allowed herself to sink down against the taller man's chest. Immediately, he wrapped his arms around her and held her close, revelling that he was still quite erect inside her…and certainly enjoying the wonderful feelings of her breasts pressing against his chest. "That was incredible…" he then admitted as he gently stroked Yukie's hair; having seen Mimura Shinji and some of the other boys with confirmed Niphentaxian girlfriends do that, he knew girls really liked that sort of thing. _

_Yukie then blinked in surprise. "Shinji-kun has a girlfriend…?" _

_"Yeah. Real sweet girl named Tsukamoto Katako…well, that's what she calls herself now. Pity she's not Avalonian like we are…" _

_A shocked gasp then escaped the woman in his arms as she bolted up to stare wide-eyed at him. "You know about the Avalonians?!" she demanded. "Why, you…!" _

_It hit her. _

_"Shūya…is that really you…?" _

_He blinked as he stared at her…and then he gaped as he recalled something that Fujino Shigeki's cousin — and Yoshitoki's would-be girlfriend — Takeshi Mai had told him about how Avalonians dreamt and interacted with a strange element of the Te'a that was universally called "the Dreamscape." A mental version of the Internet mixed together with the "collective unconscious" concept first postulated by the famous Swiss psychologist Carl Jung — that part was Kazuo's theory on the idea — the Dreamscape could be used by Avalonians to access other Avalonians' subconscious minds virtually at the limitless speed of thought. This was usually done when those blessed with this ability were asleep so they could enjoy wonderful dreams together; hence the name of this curious phenomena. The ability to access the Dreamscape, Mai once explained, was the one thing Niphentaxians couldn't take away from their former slaves no matter what they did to stunt the bioroids' psionic powers. This problem was eventually bypassed by a specially-designed genetic "loyalty lock" that bound each bioroid to the factory where they were created. The development of that lock by one of Ganzo dai-Louc's friends — who was personally executed by the abolitionist after being tortured for the secrets of said lock thirty years ago; it was that action that put a "kill on sight" order on his head and forced Ganzo to flee his homeworld for Noukiite space — effectively eliminated the threat of slave revolts even if the slaves themselves had the ability to escape their sufferings via their dreams. _

_Fortunately for people such as the reborn Flower Youth of Noukiios, Ganzo's actions saw to it none of them could be forced to bow down to a Niphentaxian. _

_And with the destruction of the controlling mechanism inside the factory that ensured the loyalty lock remained in place by Moroboshi Negako and Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech back in February when the factory was liberated… _

_"Yukie…it's you…" Shūya breathed out. _

_Yukie blinked. "I couldn't communicate with you if your soul was still in the meson crystals Geran-kun's grandfather made to house them…" Her face then seemed to explode with overwhelming joy as she squealed out, "_**SHŪYA!**_" _

_A very passionate kiss followed before both of them began to laugh as they separated themselves to get up and warmly embrace. "When?!" Yukie then demanded. _

_"Oh, it was about a month ago!" Shūya answered. "Mai — she's Shigeki's cousin; she was the boss of the local _Battle Royale_ fan club in her hometown on Phentax Two — managed to find the Genesis Wand of Parah and overrode the templation programming to make sure we all came out as boys, not girls!" As she squealed again on hearing that, he then sighed as a frown crossed his face. "Then…" A shake of the head. _

_She tensed. "What?" _

_"Some old lady — a Niphentaxian woman, but Mai and the others didn't recognise her — came here and stole the Genesis Wand." _

_Yukie blinked as she considered that before she sighed. "Well, that's not so good…" she mused before she gazed intently at him. "The others! Are they…?!" _

_"Relax!" he then said as that sexy smile of his — the one that always turned her heart to mush and made her legs go weak — crossed his face. "I told you that, Yukie. We're all on our feet and A-okay! No problems with any of us, even Kazuo." _

_Another wild scream of delight escaped her as she swamped him with another hug. As they held each other close and allowed their tears to flow down their cheeks, Yukie then glanced around. "Oh…the lighthouse. Sorry about that," she then admitted as she gazed into those warm blue eyes of his. "I always think of this…" _

_"It wasn't Yūko's fault," Shūya advised. "Or Satomi's." _

_She nodded as she leaned her head against his shoulder. Since they were alone — and just enjoyed some wonderful dream sex — the fact that both were currently as naked as jaybirds didn't bother either of them. "I know. We…" A sigh. "We had a big cry when it fully hit all of us about what we just went through. We're over it now." She gazed in concern at him. "What about you guys? No problems with any of you?" _

_He sighed. "Well, try as we could, we still wish we can get good and drunk to help us let ourselves go after what happened. Problem is…" _

_"As Avalonians, we realistically __**can't**__ get drunk. At least not on the alcohol that exists in this dimension," she finished for him. _

_"Hai." He then smirked. "Still, even if Shigeki and his friends all had to become cyborgs because of them being hit with Hifuto Syndrome…" _

_"_**WHAT?!**_" _

_Yukie was as pale as a ghost now. "Hey! Relax! Relax!" he urged her as he moved to make her sit down on one of the couches. "It's okay! Before they came out here, Mai-chan got hold of some Zeiwanite android shells and the equipment to allow their brains and vital organs to be transplanted into them! They're alive! They're okay!" _

_"Shūya! This is_ **Hifuto** _we're talking about! Don't you know about that disease?!" _

_A sigh. "Yeah! Makes Ebola look like the common cold and almost every sentient race in the galaxy can get it! Mai-chan told Shōgo that when they revealed what happened to them after we all woke up on the _Express_!" He gave her a smile. "The old man's keeping an eye on them, Yukie. It's alright. They're fine…even if…" _

_"They need to become Avalonians as soon as possible," she finished for him. _

_"Yeah. A lot of the guys are paired up with the girls in that group. Fifteen girls and Shigeru." He gazed at her. "You know about Shō and Shigeru, right?" _

_"That's Geran-kun, right?" _

_A nod. "Yeah. Shō's pretty worried about him…" _

_Both fell silent. "Poor Shō-kun…" Yukie breathed out, her eyes tearing. "To literally be handed the _perfect boyfriend_ on a virtual silver platter…" _

_"And the one thing that can now save his life — and let him stay a boy — is somewhere out in this galaxy we're in right now," he admitted as the scene around them changed. _

_She gasped before she paused and looked around. A quick glance down revealed her to be in a beautiful pair of form-fitting jeans and a knit white wool turtleneck sweater that was loose enough to be comfortable in but also tight enough in the right places to show her upper body off. A glance to Shūya revealed him in a surplus green combat jacket with hood, underlying T-shirt and corduroy pants. Blushing as she noted the very firm chest that was barely hidden under the T-shirt, Yukie then smiled at him before looking around. "What in the name of the Kami is this place?" she then demanded. _

_"The Planet of Shadows," Shūya answered. "It's a Dyson sphere about forty thousand light-years from Earth. It's habitable, but no one lives on this place…or, at least, the part of this place where we're at right now." He pointed behind him, which made Yukie turn to gaze on the _Shiroiwa Express_. The small starship looked to her like the standard saucer-shaped UFO from American tabloid newspapers…even if it was coloured orange with black tiger stripes and bore the image of the Church of Lum — a golden ring with compass arrows at the cardinal points framing the image of the Living Goddess ascending towards the skies — on the front of the superstructure over the main hull. "The Genesis Wand was in that place there," he added as he pointed off to their right front…and a giant mountain of crystal that was shaped like some fairytale palace from children's books based on various movies by the late Walt Disney-sensei; most of those things were permitted to be imported into the Greater East Asia Republic given their universal messages of love and happiness. "Mai-chan went in to get it out and brought it aboard. The Keeper — he's the guy who lived in that place — let her have it 'cause of us…even if the Wand had been found years ago by some guy named Lecasur and taken to a planet named Vos to be the symbol of his planet's unification." A sigh. "This is the weirdest thing I've ever been through, Yukie…" _

_"Well, at least we know where you're at…" _

_"_**HERESY!**_" _

_A ball of energy seemed to race down at them from overhead. _

_"_**BEGONE, DARK ONE! YOU WILL NOT HARM MY FRIENDS!**_" _

_A shield of bright light surrounded Shūya and Yukie just in time. The energy ball slammed into it, causing the scene around them to vanish into the beautiful nebula-like mists that Avalonians of all stripes normally saw when they allowed their souls to warmly embrace the Te'a in all Its Eternal Vastness. As the bolt of energy faded into nothingness, a smiling face then appeared before the young couple. "Master Shūya! So there you are!" a certain would-be Zoroastrian warrior-priestess stated as she backed off, revealing she was in a kimono-and-hakama combination which normally would be worn by Shintō shrine maidens…though in this case, Inada Mizuho elected to wear white pants in lieu of red ones. "I trust all is well with you and the others?!" _

_Shūya chuckled. "Hey, Mizuho-chan! You're looking…_**LOOK OUT!**_" _

_Mizuho smirked as she turned and flung her right hand out…to neatly CATCH the next bolt of energy being fired at them from somewhere within the Te'a. With a gentle shove of her hand, she returned said bolt back to sender…which made whoever it was that was trying to attack them in This Place howl in anger. "So where's your magic wand?" Shūya calmly asked as he wrapped an arm around Yukie's shoulder. _

_Naturally, the former female_ iinchō _of Class 3B was quite happy to allow him to do just that. "I have become one with mad Gihan's beautiful Staff, my dear friend," Mizuho calmly answered as she allowed her hand to hover over her heart. A second later, the Staff of Gihan was in her hand. "Because of that, its power is now mine to use however I see fit. And given that I am genetically a Sagussan, when I seized this device from Master Geran's witless grandfather, I became the Staff's first true…" _

_"_**FOOLISH ROBOT! GIVE THAT BACK!**_" _

_Mizuho twirled the Staff like a marching baton over her head. That allowed the business end of the ancient weapon to slam into the side of a withered and aged woman in dark robes with a hooded cape wrapped around her neck. After Mizuho stopped, she then paused to see said woman now wrapped like a barnacle on the business end of her weapon, now trying to pull the Staff out of Mizuho's hand. The would-be warrior-priestess remained quite calm as she grasped the Staff by one of the handgrips built into the long shaft that — were it not equipped with a mesonium focusing crystal at one end — would make this weapon a rather ornately-designed quarterstaff. Seeing this, both Shūya and Yukie were snickering as the woman trying to seize the Staff yanked away…without any success; Mizuho was virtually the Rock of Gibraltar or Fuji-san in comparison. _

_At that moment, a high-pitched male voice then called out, "What's going on here?!" _

_"Good evening, Master Shō," Mizuho stated as Tsukioka Shō appeared nearby, walking up to join them as the scene around them faded once more to the glade on the Planet of Shadows with the Crystal Palace in the distance and the_ Shiroiwa Express _behind them. He was dressed in his normally flamboyant and brightly-coloured clothes that made him look somewhat akin to the famous American rock singer Elvis Presley in his later years; noting that, Yukie had to admit that the only gay student in Class 3B pulled it off with ease. "I trust matters between you and Master Geran are pleasant?" _

_Shō gaped on seeing who was now in this remarkable dream, and then he smiled as he walked over to gently kiss Mizuho on the cheek. "Mizuho-chan! And Yukie-chan, too! How good to see you darlings again!" he declared as he walked over to allow Yukie to hug him. "As for poor Shigeki — that's what Geran calls himself now, by the way — he would be alright if he hadn't been infected by some horrible disease and was forced to become a_ cyborg _of all things!" He then scowled at the old woman trying to take the Staff away from its current controller. "And I think I just realised who did that to him!" he declared in a cold voice that actually made Yukie quake to her shoes. _

_Mizuho gazed his way. "This unworthy agent of the Dark One DARES to take your beloved away from you, Master Shō?" she then asked in a murderous hiss as an aura of pure rage billowed around her, which made Shūya back away before Yukie hugged him and broadcasted an aura of reassurance to her would-be lover. "Did I hear that correctly, my friend? _**THIS UNWORTHY SWINE ****_DARES_**** TO KILL THE MAN WE ALL OWE OUR VERY ****_LIVES_**** TO?!**_" _

_"_**LIES!**_" the old woman screamed out. "_**YOU ARE NOTHING…!**_" _

_"Indeed she did," Shō answered back. _

_"_**…BUT A MERE…!**_" _

_Mizuho's eyes became twin cauldrons of fury as she glared at the old woman she was now confronting. "_**SILENCE, YOU PITIFUL WORM!**_" she screamed loud enough to nearly shatter her friends' eardrums — were they in normal space and not the Dreamscape — before she raised the Staff over her head…and then lowered the boom… _

_…right onto a long stake buried in the ground — which hadn't been there before, Shūya quickly realised — that possessed a VERY sharp tip at the top! _

_A second later, a pained shriek echoed through the Dreamscape…_

* * *

Tomobiki, the Moroboshi home, Tuesday 27 July, before dawn…

…and Yukie's eyes snapped open.

Taking a moment to gasp for breath as her mind rolled through what it had just experienced when she had allowed her soul to embrace the Dreamscape, she then made herself calm down before she turned to gaze down at the sleeping girl beside her. Both she and Noriko — along with Chigusa Takako and Kotohiki Kayoko; those two were now lovers and planned to become _marei'cha_…which would certainly make Sugimura Hiroki's life a lot more interesting — had taken over the guest bedroom on the ground floor that was parallel to the new extension added to Moroboshi Tariko's second-floor bedroom when the connecting wing between the old Moroboshi home and the former guest house was constructed at the start of July. This bedroom formed an upside-down backwards "L" with the other guest bedroom built in the connecting wing, where Kitano Yukiko and Kusaka Yumiko were now sleeping. "They're alright…"

"The guys?"

Yukie turned, and then she smiled as she gave a wide-eyed Takako a nod. Like the others in their group, they had elected to keep the nightstand lamp at one side of the room turned on at its lowest level of brightness; given that the lights in Gestation Tower #98 could not be fully turned off, they had just got used to it over the last five months and simply couldn't imagine sleeping in a pitch-black space these days. "They got their new bodies templated a month ago," the former female class _iinchō_ whispered as the caramel-haired, dark-eyed track and field star gently disengaged herself from her lover before moving to put herself closer to Yukie. "The problem now is that the Genesis Wand was snared by some Niphentaxian woman after the boys got back on their feet. And Geran-kun and his friends all have Hifuto Syndrome now; they had to become cyborgs to stay alive." She then smirked. "And I know where they are…"

Takako gaped. "_**WHERE?!**_" she cried out.

That both woke Kayoko and Noriko. "What's wrong?!" the latter moaned as both girls sat up, pulling the blankets spread over their bodies closer to them.

"I just had a wonderful dream concerning…"

Yukie then turned red as the sensations of a wet pair of panties finally got her attention. The others were quick to sense her embarrassment, and then Noriko peeked down under the covers before her eyebrow arched. "Shūya, right?" she asked in a teasing voice.

"Y-y-yeah…!" Yukie sputtered.

"Who's back on his feet…as are ALL our boys!" Takako explained for the other girls' benefit, which made both Noriko and Kayoko gape in delight. "Where?!"

"Some place called the Planet of Shadows," Yukie provided.

The others looked confused, and then Takako sighed. "I'll get Satomi up."

"No need. Ohayō, minna."

They turned as Noda Satomi walked into the room, draped in a nightshirt that showed off her lovely teenage talent and that she had panties on. "How?" Yukie demanded.

The bespectacled girl smirked. "Was heading to the kitchen for a glass of juice when I saw a flash of energy emit from the doorway of Ataru's bedroom," she reported. "Mizuho just told me about this encounter you had with Shūya-kun and Shō-kun in the Dreamscape."

"Is Ataru-kun up?" Noriko asked.

"He's checking out his PADD now," Satomi reported.

The others nodded as they moved to dress…

* * *

Upstairs in Ataru's bedroom, minutes later…

"The boys have been located?"

"Yeah, Onē-san," Ataru said as his fingers tapped on the touch-screen keyboard of his dataPADD. "Planet of Shadows. The Dyson sphere in Delta Quadrant."

"You actually use the _Star Trek_ location system here?"

He smirked as Etō Megumi came in hand-in-hand with Sōma Mitsuko. Both were — much to Ataru's relief — in thigh-length yukata, as were many of the other Shiroiwa girls now coming into his bedroom; the others were wearing nightshirts that went just below the hips. "For the wide-scale stuff, Megumi-chan," he stated as he tapped controls to bring up the computer/communicator unit's holographic projection system.

An overhead image of the Milky Way Galaxy then appeared above the PADD, two target icons flashing there with notations in kanji and kana. Megumi made her way through the crowd to look at it, and then she nodded. "About forty thousand light-years," she said. "The Planet of Shadows — if it was in the _Star Trek_ universe — would be deep inside Hirogen space, somewhere close to the flight path _Voyager_ needed to go home."

"Are there Hirogen here?" Shimizu Hirono then asked Negako…who, much to the surprise of the Shiroiwa girls, was dressed in her normal midnight black gi with the black belt around her waist. _Doesn't Sensei wear anything else but martial arts gi?!_

"No, Hirono," Negako answered. "There is a marked difference of lifeform distribution between our universe and the universe of the United Federation of Planets."

Everyone save a chuckling Ataru and a clearly-amused Mizuho — the latter was currently dressing in her normal workout clothes of a T-shirt and Bermuda-style gym shorts for their morning calisthenics session — gaped in wide-eyed shock at the ninjutsu grandmaster. "Careful, Onē-san. You might break them all," Negako's last host playfully warned.

After a minute as the twenty third-year middle school students took the chance to absorb THAT bombshell of information, Satomi then sighed. "Well, it would make sense."

"What do you mean, Tomi?" Hirono asked as the others gazed on her.

She smirked. "In this universe, we're fictional characters from a novel that got transplanted to the big screen and then into a manga series, Hirono. Logic therefore dictates that if we — who are fictional characters here — can be real…"

"So could _Star Trek_!" Tanizawa Haruka, the tallest girl in the class and a former striker for the Shiroiwa girls' volleyball team, then concluded.

"Exactly!"

"So how soon can we get there to get the boys home?" Kayoko asked.

"That can be arranged quite quickly, Kayoko," Negako assured her. "Mizuho, Yukie, when you spoke to Shūya and Shō in the Dreamscape, were they desperate to leave?"

"Not truly desperate, Lady Negako…but I do believe that the sooner we dispatch one of the beautiful starships the Lady Ayami and Young Master Tsukihana had constructed at Den'sha Two to remove the unworthies of the 'federation of lies' from Earth off to the Planet of Shadows to retrieve our peers and their new friends, the better," Mizuho stated as she tucked her T-shirt — Ataru noted it was black overall with an artistic scene on the front, displaying the event days before when his would-be lover slaughtered a light battalion's worth of day-walker vampires on Azkaban Island in the North Sea alongside Abraham Lincoln; the caption on the back of the shirt declared **VAMPIRE EXTERMINATOR EXTRORDINARE** in an arch over the image of the Staff of Gihan crossed with the Rail-Splitter's favourite woodsman's axe — into her shorts.

"Agreed. Even if they're cyborgs now, they're all infected with Hifuto Syndrome," Yukie added. "The sooner they're all Avalonians — especially Geran-kun — the better."

"So be it," Negako stated before she gave Ataru an amused look. "I dare say it is about time that Hiromi and Tariko are informed of our new houseguests."

"I'd say so, too," he agreed, nodding. "But what say we work up a bit of a sweat first?"

"An excellent idea. Girls, get dressed and gather by the main door of the dōjō."

"Hai!" all the Shiroiwa girls save Mizuho chanted out…

* * *

Twenty minutes later as the sun was finally starting to rise in the eastern sky, a small troop of girls in T-shirts and running shorts — accompanied by two people in black martial arts gi — emerged through the west gate of the Moroboshi property and jogged south towards Tomobiki High School. While this wouldn't seem quite odd given that students from the aforementioned school did often come to the Moroboshi Dōjō to get some special training from the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu directly, it did strike those who were awake on the streets and in neighbouring houses odd that a strange battle staff with a glowing crystal was FLOATING horizontally over one of the jogging girls at about two metres' altitude off the street as they headed down the street. Even stranger was the fact that the Bill Conti song _Gonna Fly Now_ seemed to echo from somewhere around the girls…though the noise wasn't loud enough to draw complaints from the neighbours.

"So _Rocky_ is actually popular in the Republic?!" Ataru wondered as they turned a corner to proceed down the street that would lead them to the school's front gates.

"Hai!" Noriko called back. "Did you ever see the movies?!"

"All but the last two!" he answered. "Didn't care for the theme of the fifth movie; it kinda turned me off the whole series! Never had the chance to see the sixth one!"

"Wait!" Matsui Chisato cut in. "There was a _sixth_ movie?!"

"Ataru, remember that these girls came from the year **2000** in their universe," Negako calmly cut in from near the head of the pack. "_Rocky Balboa_ was released in 2006."

He blinked. "Damn! Forgot all about that!"

Laughter came from many of the others as a smiling female police officer waved them through an intersection close to Tomobiki High's northwest corner. As they approached the school grounds, they noted the front gate was open as a certain raven-haired, brown-eyed tomboy deposited a bag of garbage on the curbside. She tensed on sensing the crowd approach her, and then turned to look before she noted who was leading the group. "Osu, Negako-san!" Fujinami Ryūnosuke called out with a wave of her hand.

"Ohayō gozaimasu, Ryūnosuke," Negako calmly called back — that the ninjutsu grandmaster was totally calm and unruffled after what had to be a hard jog on city streets from her home to the school amazed the would-be heiress of the Hamachaya — as she directed the Shiroiwa girls onto the grounds. "Proceed over to the gymnasium, girls!" she instructed.

As Ataru sprinted over to open the door for his family's new houseguests, Negako came to a stop beside Ryūnosuke. "Damn! So it's true, huh?" the latter mused.

The former nodded as she moved to engage in a special isometric kata to relax herself. "Indeed. It surprised the others that neither you nor Nagisa were present yesterday afternoon when the news was sent out by Satoshi and Kumiko concerning them."

A snort. "Oyaji had us go down to the Umichaya on the island to work there for the weekend," Ryūnosuke stated. "So what's gonna happen to them, Negako-san? What about the guys in their old class? I know the factory can only create girls."

Negako breathed out, "Yukie and Mizuho were able to contact Nanahara Shūya and Tsukioka Shō in the Dreamscape. The boys were able to be restored thanks to a powerful Fourth Republic Sagussan device called the Genesis Wand of Parah. As boys, of course."

A nod. "Damn! What about where they're gonna live?"

"The four houses in the block east of our property are empty and can be used," Negako stated as Ataru got the girls to go inside the school gymnasium to begin their daily calisthenics workout; as Negako was seen as a self-defence teacher at Tomobiki High — and seeing that Fujinami Ryūnosuke, her father Fujimi and bond-mate Shiowatari Nagisa all lived INSIDE the school — any questions about permission to go inside the school grounds during summer vacation could be easily waived off. "Ayami has instructions to design the necessary modifications to the property so the houses can be conjoined so they can all live together. Including the boys, the young man who instigated their rescue from _The Program_ and that fellow's friends, four houses with a central connecting wing should be sufficient."

"Heard of the novel and the movie," Ryūnosuke stated. "Can't believe it's real."

"It is quite real. As are many other things you would strongly disapprove of," Negako noted before she lightly smiled. "Ohayō gozaimasu, Kaede. I assume Konoemon sent you down here as the Kantō Magical Association's official observer for our houseguests today."

"Ohayō gozaimasu de gozaru, Negako-dono," a calm yet amused voice called out from somewhere to Ryūnosuke's right as someone appeared on the fence line nearby.

The tomboy looked over as a tall yet quite shapely woman dressed in a form-fitting dark purple bodysuit possessing a halter top-like shirt capped with a turtleneck band which left her muscular arms and shoulders bare then hopped down from the fence to join them. Her feet were covered in jika-tabi similar to the pattern Negako herself normally wore. She possessed umber-shaded hair cut square at the neck save for a long thin ponytail that went below her hips. As normal for Nagase Kaede, her dark grey eyes were closed, thus giving her a serene look. "Damn! How the hell did you do that?!" Ryūnosuke demanded.

"Practice, Ryūnosuke-dono," the young ninja of the Kōka-ryū stated with a light smile that matched Negako's. "Lots of practice." She then "gazed" towards the gymnasium. "Calisthenics?" she then wondered as her eyebrow arched.

"For all its many faults, the Greater East Asia Republic does emphasise good physical fitness for students. No doubt to prepare them for _The Program_," Negako mused.

"They'll need to learn how to properly walk," Kaede warned.

"Are you willing to teach them?"

A nod. "I'd be happy to."

Negako nodded. _Walking?!_ Ryūnosuke wondered to herself as she stared at Kaede…

* * *

After the hour-long calisthenics exercise — that the twenty-one girls from Shiroiwa were so passionate about doing that sort of thing had impressed Ataru, Negako and Kaede very much — was over, everyone then spent an hour learning the _tuīshǒu_, the pushing hands drill of tàijíquán and several other internal martial styles from China. Watching the others as she paired up with Fujiyoshi Fumiyo to perform the drill, Kaede could sense the passion many of the girls felt for each other…even those who clearly hadn't yet experienced their "time of the month" such as Tanizawa Haruka, Matsui Chisato, Noda Satomi, Sakaki Yūko, Kanai Izumi and Tendō Mayumi. As Negako partnered up with Nakagawa Yūka and Ataru partnered up with Inada Mizuho, the tall ninja from Shiga Prefecture northeast of Kyōto could only smile. Fumiyo — a very jovial girl with grey eyes and bouffant-styled dark brown hair — smiled in turn on sensing what the older girl was thinking. "Amazing, isn't it?"

Kaede nodded. "The love you all feel for each other is quite intoxicating, Fumiyo-dono. Especially when it comes to Yukiko-dono and Yumiko-dono and how they feel for each other."

Fumiyo looked over to see the first bonded couple of the Shiroiwa group practice, their eyes locked on each other as they projected looks of pure love upon each other. "Hai. But then again, it's not so surprising. Yukiko and Yumiko have known each other since they were little children. It did surprise us at first, but then…"

"You saw it was the right thing in the end."

"Hai." She then gazed intently on Kaede. "Do you have a bond-mate, Sempai?"

A shake of the head. "I have yet to be blessed that way, Fumiyo-dono." Kaede then gave her a knowing look. "I see that you're saving yourself for someone special."

Fumiyo hummed. "Book, movie or manga?"

Kaede laughed. "I never read or saw any of them until yesterday when I got the word about you girls. Read the whole manga last night since it's the closest we have to revealing your true experiences." She winked at the younger girl. "You know of Yutaka-dono's interest in you now, don't you?" she asked.

A blush. "Hai. I'm really flattered by that." Fumiyo then hummed. "Though…"

"What is it?"

"I don't know if making a _bomb_ is a good way to reveal one's feelings for another."

Kaede chuckled. "You girls know what it means to be truly _**alive**_, Fumiyo-dono," she said as she gave the younger girl a gentle push with her empathy to reassure her. "Much that something like _The Program_ should never have happened in the first place, it did focus all of you — yes, even you, Fumiyo-dono — on what life truly meant because you were then on the verge of losing it." As Fumiyo considered that, the ninja from Shiga added, "When Geran-dono had you brought here and you gained your freedom thanks to Mizuho-dono, it was quite a shocking event for all of you. Wasn't it?"

A nod. "Yeah. I barely remember what happened after Kamon threw that knife at me." Fumiyo shrugged. "One moment, I'm in that classroom on Oki-shima…and then I found myself in a gestation tube on the bioroid factory watching Mizuho-chan zap Geran-kun's grandfather with the Staff." A shake of the head. "Took a while for me to accept what did happen, but when I did…" Her eyes started to mist over. "In a way, I was lucky. I never had to make the decisions some of the others made." Her eyes then flicked over to Yumiko and Yukiko. "They're the brave ones."

"Because they stood up for what they believed in and tried to convince everyone to stop playing," Kaede noted. "Hai, they are that, aren't they? But all of you are equally brave." As Fumiyo gaped in shock at those words, the Kōka ninja added, "You decided once you came here that you would do all to stay alive and safe, plus use the Staff to bring the other _Program_ players here so they could get their lives back. In effect, you chose to LIVE, Fumiyo-dono. And you want all the others to live as well."

"Well, that was thanks to Izumi-chan," Fumiyo confessed as she gazed on Izumi, who had partnered up with Mayumi for this exercise. "Her brother's a big _Program_ fanatic." She then scowled. "I wonder if he'll get the DVD for our episode."

A sigh. "Sad, really…"

"Hai, it is…"

* * *

After an hour of pushing hands, Negako ordered everyone to relax themselves before turning over things to Kaede for the trip back to the Moroboshi home. When the ninja from Shiga announced what they would do next, many of the Shiroiwa girls were confused.

"Um…no offense, Sempai, but what does _**walking**_ have to do with getting good exercise or learning how to defend yourself?" Takako asked.

"Good question, Takako-dono. Now, Mizuho-dono, please don't spoil this," she then stated as she gazed knowingly at the controller of the Staff of Gihan. As the others save Negako laughed — the ninjutsu grandmaster had an amused smile on her face — the other ninja explained, "While I don't exactly know how it went in your universe, after the Greater East Asia War ended here and we had to rebuild after America defeated us, we turned the passions that made our people produce such fine warriors as samurai and ninja into becoming the strongest economic power on the planet. Because of that, things became very rush-rush with a lot of people as the years went on and the demands of the local economy grew and grew. Quickly rush off to work every morning, do everything now, do everything you can now, work overtime to the point of either total exhaustion or actually dying of stress-induced heart attacks…" A shake of the head. "In the end, people lost track of what it meant to simply relax and allow their souls to be at peace."

"That's kinda true where we come from," Hirono noted. "The leaders of the Republic wanted people to concentrate on being the best economically. Then again, when you sit back and think about it, it was for a pretty good reason. The whole Third World was kinda dependent on us since we always supported their drive to free themselves from Europe's control or America's influence. And with so many people in the country…"

"The economy had to expand to accommodate all the people being born into your society," Negako finished for the spiky-haired girl. "Especially since it had to contribute to the construction of new towns and cities. Shiroiwa is a post-war settlement, is it not?"

Many of the girls nodded. "Yeah…" Hirono breathed out.

"Alright, then," Kaede stated. "When I was your age attending the junior high division of the Mahora Academy, I formed a walking club with two of my classmates, Narutaki Fūka and her twin sister Fumika. We walked everywhere we could go to see and experience everything that could be seen within reasonable range of our school. The Academy gardens, the World Tree, the hills and mountains near Mahora itself, the small lakes and rivers close to the Academy and everything else we could find that caught our interest. Not only was it a wonderful way to relax ourselves, it allowed us to cleanse our souls of all the mundane things too many people around us cared for far too much." She gazed knowingly on Negako. "As I'm sure Negako-dono will immediately agree, you're all still weighed down too much by your experiences on that island when you were forced to either kill or be killed. Yes, even the ones who fell at the start such as Fumiyo-dono and Mayumi-dono." As the Shiroiwa girls nodded in grim understanding, Kaede added, "So what we'll do today is walk back to the Moroboshi home together in single file. Before we do that, though, I'm going to teach you all how to breathe through your diaphragms in lieu of your lungs."

"What would that do, Kaede-sempai?" Mayumi asked.

"Diaphragmatic breathing — breathing through your stomach in lieu of your chest, in other words — allows you to maximise the power of your lungs to take in oxygen, Mayumi-dono," Kaede explained. "It's a very slow process. I recommend taking at least ten seconds to bring in all the air you can into your lungs, then going ten seconds in exhaling. We'll practice that first before I teach you how to walk and breathe through your diaphragms, and then we'll head back to the Moroboshi home for breakfast."

"And shopping afterward!" Yūka then cut in.

"But of course!" Kaede stated with a wink.

The others save Negako laughed…

* * *

Over an hour later, everyone — including Kaede — was back at the Moroboshi home. As Negako headed into the dōjō to look in on Kaga, Yūka got first dibs on the upstairs bathroom in the old guest house to wash down before she would head into the kitchen to prepare breakfast from some of the foods Ataru's classmates had brought in the previous day. Kaede went off to locate Hakaru Ayami in the ground floor bedroom of the old guest house — Ataru's sister Hiromi had turned it into a private study — to give her recommendations as to what should be installed once the Moroboshi home was expanded a second time to take in the Shiroiwa girls and their "fans" from Phentax Two who now needed rescuing from Hifuto Syndrome. The other Shiroiwa girls were quick to take advantage of the beautiful furo installed in a new section of the connecting wing at the northwest side that helped form a connection with the dōjō itself without the necessity of waking outside or through the parts of the old Moroboshi home that were still open to Ataru's parents Muchi and Kinshō.

As the Shiroiwa girls all knew, in the wake of the Yaminokuni mission when the old home, the guest home and the dōjō were connected together as one single building, Muchi and Kinshō were restricted to their own bedroom and the bathroom on the second floor, plus the kitchen and living room on the ground floor. There was no internal access to the living spaces for Ataru and his sisters. If Kinshō wanted to impose herself on her children, she would have to go outside and WALK AROUND THE BLOCK to pass through the gates on the west side of the property to get into the old guest house; the walls protecting the expanded property were just too high to climb over and the front gate of the old guest house had been filled in when the Moroboshi family had obtained it along with two other neighbouring homes in late February at Negako's instigation. Even better, Negako had blood ki-warded the west gate against unwelcome intrusion…and had also added blood-based ward-stones to the whole wall structure to let loose with a blast of simulated bio-electricity — no different than Redet Hensō's infamous "divine retribution" — on anyone who tried to break into the property. Since their installation, Kinshō had been forced to stay overnight at a nearby hospital on SIX separate occasions whenever she tried to get past the wall to impose herself on her children.

For a woman who was driven to dominate all around her as a way of feeling safe and secure, being _**locked out**_ of almost every part of what she saw as her own house — the property had legally been Negako's since early March as privately arranged between the ninjutsu grandmaster and Muchi without Kinshō's knowledge — had nearly destroyed her.

And for a woman who was afraid of the reaction of neighbours towards anything unusual that happened in her home, Kinshō could _**never**_ make herself resort to yelling at her children from beyond the walls to make them "behave themselves" and submit to her demands.

After learning that — and being told that she and her husband had been stripped of all their legal authority over Ataru (and had never possessed any authority over Tariko or Hiromi in the first place) by the Tōkyō Family Court in March, said custody having been awarded to Negako on the grounds of "gross parental incompetency that caused emotional trauma"…which was legalese for being child abusers — Ataru's mother had been reduced to a hollow shell of her former self.

For the Shiroiwa girls — who all had, to one extent or another, come to feel abandoned by their parent society and were outraged at the failure of their parents from doing something to stop their being forced through _The Program_ as far too many others had been forced into playing that sick "game" over the fifty-three years prior to their trip to Oki-shima — learning what had happened to Ataru's mother had elicited no feelings of sympathy or pity from them concerning her.

Hirono had put it quite succinctly and profanely after Mizuho had relayed that titbit of information a few weeks before: "Serves the fuckin' bitch right for all the shit she's dumped on Ataru's head all this time!"

So with potential headaches from _that_ quarter effectively done away with…

* * *

Given that the Shiroiwa girls had lived for five months on the bioroid factory — a vessel that didn't have a large water supply, though it did have a special treatment plant built into it to recycle what water was stored aboard for reuse — they had been forced to use the sonic showers fitted into all of the gestation towers to help keep their bodies clean. And while such units were quite efficient in doing that sort of thing, the need to feel water on their skins had driven all the girls to travel on odd weekends to various places on Earth — mostly in Japan, Korea, America and Canada — to visit public bath houses to enjoy a long soak in a heated pool after cleaning themselves. Of course, they never had visited the same place twice as they didn't wish to be recognised, but the weekend "shower trips" had been worth it as it had helped heal their wounded spirits.

The furo at the Moroboshi home, however…

"Oh, ye gods! This is paradise!" Satomi groaned out as she sank herself in the heated waters of the furo itself…which had been built large to accommodate multiple people because of the current relationship dynamics of the Moroboshi siblings.

"Okay, I can die here," Haruka added as she stretched herself nearby before lying against one wall. "Minna, tell Mizuho-chan to not resurrect me this time, okay?"

The others morbidly chuckled at that rather dark joke; despite their desire to live their lives to the maximum, the ugliest lesson _The Program_ had taught them all still haunted their thoughts and had affected their senses of humour. "I have to agree with Ruka," Hirono stated as she moved to wash the back of Minami Kaori at one station near the furo. "Dying in a warm furo is a lot better than drowning in a well."

"Or getting a shotgun blast in the side of the head," Kaori added.

More macabre laugher from the other girls. "Oh, speaking of which, where is our resident warrior-priestess anyway?" Chisato asked as she looked around.

"Trying to be the first to score a 'C' with Ataru. Where else?" Hirono noted.

The others nodded. "I hope she'll bond with him," Noriko then added.

Everyone else gazed at their _ashi'cha_; Noriko had been chosen for the position because she had survived their being forced into _The Program_ and had used her love to maintain hope throughout the whole event, right to when she and Shūya had escaped the island and fled for America. "Yeah. If it wasn't for his sisters and a few others, he really wouldn't live in this sewer-pit of a town," Hirono stated as she took up a shower head to wash the suds away from Kaori's back. "Kinda like that old Sagussan legend we heard about."

"Well, the sounds that go into 'Tomobiki' in Sagussan means 'place of fools and madmen,'" Satomi mused. "Ataru's name is pretty close to 'Atar,' the man who was gifted by the Master of Entropy to destroy the Toghmoghbiki of legend." She smirked. "Which means Mizuho would probably be the equal of Ram, the girl who went to Toghmoghbiki to cleanse it of evil. Given what we know of Mizuho's life before we came here…"

Sakaki Yūko nodded as she moved to sit down beside Satomi. "Hai, it would make sense. She believed in things that were make-believe and based on a role-playing game. Her parents didn't help her at all when she started living all her fantasies in real time. When she came here, that's when we first learned of Ataru-kun." She then frowned as she remembered what she had done when she had seen the ghastly image of the Cyborg on a security monitor as he physically ripped the head off Otako odai-Meinyak when she led a battalion of troops onto the factory to chase away the "great evil" and his allies. "I think Mizuho fell in love with him right then and there."

"Well, Ahura Mazdā is the supreme deity in Zoroastrianism. There is no actual angel or demon that would be assigned as the equal of the Master of Entropy in the true logical sense of that title," Satomi mused. "Since all righteous beings are allowed to meet Ahura Mazdā in Heaven, it was logical for Mizuho to conclude that what Ataru turns himself into was just the natural entropic aspect of Ahura Mazdā Himself."

"Satomi, stop! Please!" Mitsuko moaned out as she rubbed her eyes. "All this theological talk is giving me a headache! Let's worry about other things first!"

"Oh? Like what?!" Takako knowingly asked as she moved to help Kayoko wash down.

"Which one of us _after_ Mizuho gets to sleep with the guy, of course!"

The others stared at her, and then they laughed…

* * *

In a certain bedroom on the second floor nearby…

"_**AH-CHOO!**_"

"Bless you, Ataru."

Ataru moaned. "The others?"

"Aye," Mizuho gently hummed as he moved to complete the shiatsu treatment he was doing to her as she relaxed on the futon in his bedroom. "Naturally, it would be the ever-passionate Mitsuko who would raise such a subject. Dear Hirono is — despite her considerable level of experience when it comes to affairs of the bedchamber — strangely shy when it comes to talk of you taking our maidenheads…and wise Satomi is far too polite to even speak of such things in public." She then gazed at him. "They love you, Ataru."

"What have I done to deserve their love? Much less yours?" he whispered.

She scowled on hearing that, once again wishing that her Master would finally get around to killing off Ataru's foul mother in punishment for all the verbal abuse she had heaped on him over the years. Even if his spirit had been buoyed by the loving support of the reborn emperor of the Latter Hàn Dynasty and his own twin sister, the ever witty and wise Lady Tariko — and backed by the unyielding wall of logic, knowledge and reason that was the Earth Angel herself — over the last seven months, the years of repeated "I wish I never had him!" comments or the like had left a deep wound in his psyche. The fact that Ataru's lazy father had refused to discipline the infernal bitch had just made it worse…and that didn't begin to excuse the path of _inaction_ Ataru's other immediate relatives — both blood and adopted — chose to follow, especially in the wake of Redet Hensō's entrance into his life a year before.

"Killing her is too _easy_, Mizuho," Ataru then advised her as he moved to work on her lower abdomen above her butt. She was dressed only in a pair of panties and he was currently in a pair of boxer shorts. "We decided to simply isolate her from us, especially from Hiromi's children. That hurt her much worse than anything else we could have done to her."

Mizuho sighed. "Aye, I suppose you're right. Still, I can't ignore the amount of pain you've experienced thanks ultimately to her foul mouth. It made you feel worthless over the years. Granted, Negako-sama did exacerbate that when she strove to use you as a foci to gather all the ki she could under the Tarōzakura Hill to eventually make her own body and see the Sacred Promise finally fulfilled with you hopefully surviving such…but she should have accepted her responsibility when it came to bearing you at such a young age and strove to be the best mother she could have been under the circumstances."

A snort. "'Responsibility' is not a word Baka Kā-san believes in, Mizuho." He then smiled as he moved to manipulate the meridian lines through her buttocks. Before he had started this treatment, he had activated several ki locks in the would-be warrior-priestess to prevent her from feeling arousal at his touch…then did the same to himself. She had been quite touched by such an action, though he had sensed a flash of disappointment in her as well that she wouldn't get a good shagging at this time. "You probably don't know this, but she was quite the horny little slut back when she attended Tomobiki High School. Allowing everyone — mostly guys but a few girls as well — to have some intimate time with her wherever she could and wherever there was a quiet place to do the deed. Most people her age who were schoolmates of hers know that about her…but ever since Kaeru disappeared, folks like the Stormtroopers' mothers never spoke about that sort of thing in public out of respect for her grief." A sigh. "Kaeru's the lucky one, I think."

"Do you believe your brother is still alive?"

He shook his head. "Don't know what to believe. If he is alive, he's probably on another planet somewhere in the Universe." A shrug. "Maybe someone came along and helped heal him from his injuries, then adopted him. That's a possibility." As she nodded, he began work on her upper legs. "And if he is dead, they most likely took his body to harvest the organs and save someone else's life." A shrug. "I dunno. Still, when I think about it, if he lived and stayed on Earth, Baka Kā-san and Baka Tō-san would have probably spoiled him rotten by now. And me…" A smirk. "I'd probably be living with Obā-chan up on Rishiri-tō being spoiled in my own way. Don't know if I'd have been given the chance to take up the Promise and have Onē-san put into my head in that case. Don't know if I'd have found Hiromi's magatama, either. Oh, well…"

"You accept it so gracefully."

"I have to. Life's too short — even for someone with an Avalonian lifespan — to constantly harp on the bad stuff. You can understand that, can't you?" At her nod, he added, "We gave Baka Kā-san and Baka Tō-san a chance to try to be decent people for once when we came back to Earth in late March. They ultimately blew it when they couldn't accept all the emotional issues when it came to Hiromi and the girls who wanted to be with her…to say anything of how they reacted when both Shikuko and Miyako came into my life." He then paused. "I dunno how they'll accept this…"

"Are the Ladies Shikuko and Miyako aware of your interest in _Battle Royale_?"

He smirked as he looked behind him into the old section of his bedroom. Where the door into the upper floor hallway had once been, there were now bookshelves, all packed with a lot of different manga types. All the adult stuff — and his copies of the _Battle Royale_ manga — were on the top shelf to ensure that Hiromi's daughters wouldn't get their hands on them; they were also guarded by magic-defeating ki wards that Negako put into place to ensure they wouldn't be taken. "They do. They'll be probably shocked on learning you're all real and had been brought here, but they'll understand." A smirk. "I hope."

"Fret not about it," she said as he returned to work on her legs. "The Lady Shikuko strikes me as being a much more passionate yet more reasonable version of fiery Mitsuko…while the Lady Miyako has a lot of wise Satomi's intelligence and is hopelessly in love with her reborn liege lord. Besides, back in the days of the Three Kingdoms, having concubines to guarantee the succession was expected of a senior lord." She then gazed in amusement at him. "Besides, if you welcome me — and Mitsuko, Satomi and Hirono…as well as Megumi and Kaori — into your bed, you will drive your witless mother totally insane. Perhaps to the point where she would be forced into a mental institution for the rest of her years, thus freeing your father from her domineering control and allowing him to be pursued in earnest by the Hayasaka sisters. Wouldn't THAT be a slap in the face to the stupid fool?"

He chuckled. "You're vicious, Mizuho!"

She sighed. "I feel I have to be, dear Ataru." A shrug. "Now that I understand my true duties as a servant of the Wise Lord, I will do all I can to bring justice and truth to all those around me…starting with those I love and care for such my friends and your family." Her own pale blue eyes filled with unshed tears as she slowly rose to gaze directly into his dark brown orbs, not bothering to cover her breasts from his view; on seeing those pert orbs for the first time free of a bra or other item of clothing, Ataru had to admit that Mizuho was just as shapely as Mitsuko. "After all, I myself suffered from a lack of parental love and concern. Where were MY parents when the delusions and fantasies took control of my life and turned even Megumi and Kaori away from me?"

He gazed at her, and then he pulled her into his arms as she began to weep…

* * *

The dōjō, a half-hour later…

"So this is what I've come up with," Hakaru Ayami stated as she tapped controls on her dataPADD to project a three-dimensional image of what she had designed.

Negako — as well as Kaga and Kaede — gazed intently at it for a moment before they nodded. "It allows them to freely interact with my family…and gives those who would desire Ataru intimately a way of directly accessing him. There will be room for Geran and his friends as well if what Yukie and Mizuho reported what they learned from their friends on the Planet of Shadows is true. Tariko should be able to accept the adjustments in her bedroom to allow a passageway directly into Ataru's bedroom."

"There's no loss of actual floor space for her," the young genius from Kanagawa Prefecture south of Tōkyō itself stated. "The walls barring off the parents from the rest of the property remain in place and they'll feel isolated and closed in. Hopefully, they'll get the hint finally and move out, so we can free up those parts of the property for the use of others."

"That chance is there," Kaede noted.

"Why is **_this_** here?" Kaga asked as she pointed to one particular aspect of the hologram.

"Atop it also helping contribute to forcing the parents out of this place once and for all, that will serve as a physical memorial of what happened to them on Oki-shima, Kaga-san," Ayami stated with an amused look. Putting THAT into the expanded home would clearly cause a lot of people to just stop and gape at the Moroboshi home…which was something that Ataru's mother would loathe beyond reason. Fortunately, the building codes and zoning laws in this town were quite flexible when it came to this sort of thing…and the right explanation to the right people would certainly win sympathy for this from members of the town council. "Yes, they would probably never think of doing something like that again…but they need the chance to find all the positive meanings of what happened there to help them finally heal. This would give them a chance." She then sighed. "Atop that, this would also…"

"Give both yourself and Tsukihana the chance to finally come down from the _Haida_ and reside once more on Earth," Negako finished for her young ward. "Much that you both have become quite used to living in such a manner, you still require the chance to be on a planet and re-forge your links with your friends here on Earth. Atop that, it will make things much more convenient for Tsukihana as he builds his relationship with Ryōko." She then gazed knowingly at Ayami. "Not to mention yourself and Yūka."

Ayami jolted. "Y-y-Yūka-san…?"

Negako sighed. "She now views you as her future bond-mate, Ayami."

The young genius from Kanagawa took a moment to absorb that, and then her cheeks started to redden. "I just m-m-met h-her…" she sputtered out.

"Ayami-dono, many of them still believe deep in their hearts that they may be forced back into the universe of their birth," Kaede advised. "A bond between yourself and Yūka-dono would help them accept the truth of their current situation and finally feel at home here."

The younger woman — she was, age-wise, a peer of the Shiroiwa girls; had she been not kidnapped by the Ipraedies over three years ago with her family and taken into deep space, she would be now a classmate of Sakan "Ten'i Orai" Somumi at the Kyoshō Academy now — blinked as she considered that, and then she sighed. "Well…"

"Get to know her better after she returns from the shopping trip," Negako then advised. "Let it develop slowly. Your body and soul will both sense her interest in you very soon and move to reciprocate; given how isolated you have been over the past three years and Tsukihana's understandable interest in Ryōko, your soul does yearn to have a bond-mate…especially now that you have remade yourself as an Avalonian."

"But I'm a _**TŌSHI**_, Onē-san!" Ayami moaned out.

"And Yūka — despite her extra-dimensional origins — is a very _**normal**_ girl."

The woman who had been reborn from the soul of the first great strategist of Cáo Cāo blinked as she took that in, and then she breathed out, "That's true…"

"Negako-saaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Negako gazed at the doorway of the dōjō. "Enter, ladies."

Three smiling second-year university students appeared at the doorway. "We're here, Negako-san!" Kakizaki Misa declared with a cheer in her voice as she and her fellow cheerleaders from the time they were still junior high and high school students, Kugimiya Madoka and Shiina Sakurako, all grinned at the ninjutsu grandmaster. "How soon will your new guests be ready to hit the markets and get some decent clothing?!"

Negako peered in the direction of the living room. "Within about another half-hour, ladies. Go inside and introduce yourselves to them." Her eyebrow then arched. "Is there some strange reason Mana and Zazie are here as well?"

"Well, given that the news is getting out in magical societies that _**she**_ has been found and has made contact with your family, Konoka-chan's grandpa feels that there might be an attempt on poor Mizuho-chan while she's away from the house, Negako-san," Madoka explained. "We know how powerful that staff of hers is, but there's still a good chance…"

A nod. "Agreed. Zazie, come here now."

Darkness formed at one corner of the room, which soon melted into a dusky-skinned woman with shaggy, short-cut silver hair and caramel-brown eyes, her face marked with the cut-like tattoo that ran down the right side of her face through her eye socket and the teardrop tattoo leading down from her left eye onto her cheek. Like her former classmates, Zazie Rainyday — she had slipped off her outdoor shoes before teleporting into the dōjō; she now held them in one hand — was dressed in stylish civilians…though her pants were composed of materials that could stretch if the acrobat of the Nightmare Circus was forced into a fight. As she was the best friend and former dorm-mate of Tatsumiya Mana, Zazie was a very proficient hand-to-hand combatant atop being a very powerful user of magic thanks to her being of demonic royalty…though now, she was also an Avalonian. She had become such when Negako had gone to Mahora two months before to retrieve the deactivated body of her beloved Kaga…and elected to offer the infamous Maga Nosferatu, Evangeline McDowell, the chance to become fully human — and an adult to boot! — after spending over six centuries as a day-walker vampire physically frozen at ten years of age. While becoming an Avalonian had given Zazie the standard psionic powers and the sense of the Te'a, it had also forever frozen her in human form…which she didn't mind as she had always seen herself more as human than demon when she had gone to the Mahora Academy to act as a spiritual protector of sorts to all the magically-gifted students who were then attending the institution. "Yes, Negako?" she asked.

"I can sense your friends close by," the ninjutsu grandmaster stated. "You are aware of Mizuho's personal beliefs, are you not?"

"Oh! That's right! You don't know!" Sakurako exclaimed.

An eyebrow arched. "I do not know what, Sakurako?"

"Mizuho saved Onē-sama from a griffin-dragon two months ago. The poor thing tried to eat her while Mizuho was visiting Nerio to explore the area around Ariadne," Zazie explained. "It was quite a battle…even though Mizuho would have preferred not to slay the poor creature in the end." She then gazed knowingly at her former classmates, an amused smile crossing her face. "She does like dragons, doesn't she?"

"Hagrid-sensei over at Hogwarts thinks the world of her!" Madoka added. "And Negi-kun told me that he would contact Harry-kun and Luna-chan right away about Mizuho-chan."

"I assume we will expect Alejandro and his friends as well?" Negako stated.

"Why not?" Zazie asked…

…as the faint crack of apparation echoed from the yard behind Madoka, Sakurako and Misa, making them turn around as they gazed on the person who had just arrived. "Ohayō, Luna-chan!" the former then called out as a certain magical newspaper reporter and naturalist from Britain came over to join them. "Get you up too early?"

"Certainly not, Madoka-chan," Luna Lovegood stated. "Everyone who works for Father has standing orders to contact either him or myself when there's a sighting of _**her**_ anywhere in the world. Ohayō gozaimasu, Negako-sama. Zazie-san."

"Luna," both Negako and Zazie greeted with their normal calm tones.

Seeing that made the others giggle, which made the demon-born acrobat of the Nightmare Circus and the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū exchange a knowing look…

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

1) The **Personal Electronic Surveillance and Restraint System** (**PESRS**) is the official designation in the _Battle Royale_ manga of the collar worn by _Program_ "players" that is called the **Guadalcanal-22** in the original novel.

2) For those who haven't read _Phoenix From the Ashes_, the Lady **Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech** (childhood name **Kyech**) is physically based on the _Koihime Musō_ version of **Ryofu Hōsen** (personal name **Ren**) modified to be a Noukiite (the race was first introduced in _The Senior Year_ story "Arrive Reiko-chan"). Kyech — known more popularly as "She Who Speaks to Dragons" or the "Dragonspeaker" — is a true metahuman in the North American superhero comic sense. She was gifted by the greatest of the _ch'uokyek_ (Noukiite spirit-dragons), **Nengmek'i**, over three thousand years ago in her first life with a sample of his blood after she saved him — when disguised as a human child — from bullies. Though the power Kyech inherited from Nengmek'i drove her insane in her first life — thus forcing her sister **Flower Youth** to gang together to slay her — when she was reborn thanks to **Ganzo dai-Louc** in this life many years before the start of this story, she became an intergalactic hero…especially because of her willingness to stand up to metahumans from the planet **Yiziba** (based on the Levramites from Jim Valentino's parody comic series _normalman_ from the mid-1980s; variations of them appear in my stories _The Saga of Coyote and the Tempest_ and _Manacled Dominatrix_).

Kyech's personal story — and her involvement with the Moroboshi siblings — is expanded on in great detail in a flashback scene depicted in Part 8 of _PFtA_.

3) Translations: **Iinchō** — Literally meaning "committee chairman," this is the term applied to students who are elected to serve as their classroom's representatives on the student council of any school…hence this term is often translated "class representative" in English language manga and subtitled anime series; **Marei'cha** — Literally "the one with whom you raise a child" and normally translated "bond-mate," this is the Sagussan/Avalonian equivalent to a telepathic marriage bond amongst Vulcans…and traditionally occurred between same-sex couples, but there were exceptions such as what Mike Smith and I did for Ataru and Lum in _TSY_; **Jika-tabi** — Literally "foot pouch that contacts the ground," this is the outdoor version of the **tabi**, which are the split-toed socks that extend up to the lower shin that can fit into traditional footwear such as **zōri** (thonged sandals) or **geta** (wooden clogs/flip-flops)…and are used as the traditional footwear of ninja while doing a mission; **Dono** — Suffix honorific derived from the word **tono** ("lord"/"master") that stands between the basic honorific "-san" and the very respectful honorific "-sama" in terms of politeness.

4) That **Etō Megumi** is a passionate fan of _Star Trek_ is my invention; I first noted this in _Avalonians and Questors_. All locations put into that series — such as where the **Hirogen** live in Delta Quadrant — are based on the galactic maps in the 2002 publication _Star Trek: Star Charts_ (ISBN 0-743-43770-5) by series production artist Geoffrey Mandel.

5) While the Greater East Asia Republic is quite adverse to the idea of importing Western culture and social thought — as that would be the first step towards implanting ideas of democracy in the minds of the people, which (given that the Republic is a military dictatorship) could spell the end of the RGEA — it does allow certain things that would be readily judged as "acceptable" due to whatever underlying message the film, television series, book or other such artefact portrays. In this light, _Star Trek_ would be easily accepted due to its universal message of peace and acceptance of all in equal stature. _Rocky_ — as fans of the original 1976 film know — is the classic story of the underdog being given the chance to make it big. And the various children's tales written by **Walt Disney** would — with some exceptions — be quite accepted in the RGEA because of their universal messages of love and good feelings.

Of course, the traditional staples of manga and anime would be quite popular in the RGEA…though there would be changes in general themes given the Republic's militarist nature.

6) Like other characters such as **Himura Kenshin** of the famous manga and anime series _Rurōni Kenshin_ by Watsuki Nobuhiro, **Nagase Kaede** of _Mahō Sensei Negima_ always ends all her sentences with the phrase **de gozaru**, which is an archaic version of the modern polite-form copula **desu** that often serves the same function as the English verb "to be" and many of its various conjugations. _De gozaru_ is believed by some linguists to have evolved from the phrase _de gozaimasu_, which was the polite way of saying _de arimasu_; _arimasu_ is a conjugation of the verb _aru_…which is yet another way of saying the concept "to be" and is used as an existential verb for inanimate objects, i.e. _Hon wa tēburu ni aru_ ("The book is on a table").

In effect, the use of _de gozaru_ by people such as Kenshin and Kaede indicates a spiritual toughness that would be expected from warriors such as samurai, ninja and modern-day yakuza.

Since I do try to do my best to keep Japanese phrases and terms in the story to a minimum — though I, like many other writers, do add them to enhance the flavour of a story — whenever Kaede is shown to speak with a Japanese phrase, I will add _de gozaru_ at the end.

7) The **Kōka-ryū** — sometimes misspelled "Kōga" — is one of the classic ninjutsu schools. First raised during the **Muromachi Period** (1337-1573) in the area of modern-day Shiga Prefecture, the people who would eventually form this school were one of the first warrior clans to practice a form of direct democracy…and by the latter half of the Fifteenth Century, had become a virtual independent state. Eventually, the area around modern-day Kōka city came under the control of the **Rokkaku Clan**, who would eventually rise up in rebellion against the Shōgun in power at the time, **Ashikaga Yoshihisa** (1465-89)…and came to resort to guerrilla tactics to defeat the general sent to suppress them. Eventually, the fame of the Kōka-ryū made them the perfect mercenaries to serve various lords over the following years. The last true headmaster of the Kōka-ryū was **Fujita Seiko** (1898-1966)…whom some historians view these days as the last true ninja.

The Kōka-ryū was split into various sub-schools that taught specific martial forms such as **kenjutsu** (the art of the sword) and **taijutsu** (the art of fighting with the body)…and even more general military-type knowledge such as **chimon** (the understanding of geography), **tenmon** (the understanding of meteorology) and **hensōjutsu** (the art of camouflage).

8) **Tuīshǒu** (which literally means "pushing hands forward") was said to have been developed by General **Chén Wángtíng** (1580-1660) as an element of his family school of tàijíquán. With _tuīshǒu_, a student can learn things such as leverage, reflex, sensitivity, timing, coordination and positioning. It is also said to be an excellent way of helping martial arts students fight down the natural instinct to resist force with force…and according to some legends, an excellent way of sharing ki with a friend.

9) The bomb built by **Mimura Shinji** and **Seta Yutaka** as an attempt at striking back at the _Program_ staff in a way of escaping Oki-shima was called "**Fumiyo's Revenge**" by Yutaka because of his own personal feelings for **Fujiyoshi Fumiyo**; Yutaka explained to Shinji that he always saw Fumiyo as the prettiest girl in Class 3B.

10) As fans of _Negima_ know, Nagase Kaede and her friends **Narutaki Fūka** and her twin sister **Narutaki Fumika** were members of the "**Walking Club**" as noted on the class list for Mahora Girl's Junior High School Class 2A (and later 3A when Negi Springfield's class advanced to the last year of middle school [equivalent of Grade 9 in Canada] in the manga episode "The Wizard of Cherry Blossom Street" [manga episode #16]). A very vivid demonstration of what the Walking Club actually does is shown in the _Mahō Sensei Negima Neo_ manga story "Threatening With A Club!" (manga episode #16).

As an aside, I follow the original _Negima_ manga timeline when I involve the characters of that series. However, given the massive mixture of various universes in this story, the fates of Negi's students won't properly coincide with what was revealed in the last chapter of Akamatsu-sensei's work, "3A Forever" (manga episode #355). However, I will confess that _Negima Neo_ — which was created by Fujima Takuya as a manga addition to the 2006-07 anime series, known commonly as _Negima!?_ — does take a different look at many of Akamatsu-sensei's characters…in very much the same way as the _Battle Royale_ manga by Taguchi-sensei took a very detailed look at many of the characters Takami-sensei introduced in his original novel.

11) The tale of **Atar**, **Ram** and the destruction of **Toghmoghbiki** was first revealled in the _TSY_ story "Noa." Note that in Sagussan, the "**gh**" character indicates that the preceding vowel is long (akin to the silent final "e" convention in English, such as how the word _bas__e_ is pronounced).

12) **Otako odai-Meinyak** was first introduced in the _TSY_ story "What Price For Love?"; this is where the Niphentaxians and the Avalonians first appeared in that series. She was the governor of Phentax Twelve and a very passionate member of the Church of Lum. She also had an Avalonian clone of herself created as a sort of "older sister" figure. In the universe of this story, that version of her — who calls herself simply **Otako Meinyak** these days — currently serves as the President of the Provisional Government of New Avalon, based aboard the bioroid factory.

13) Ataru's twin brother **Moroboshi Kaeru** was first properly introduced in the _TSY _story "My Darlings United." Creating him was the means by which both Mike Smith and I used to explain the emotional abuse heaped on Ataru by his parents all the time; Kaeru was the favoured child of the pair and his death — and the subsequent disappearance of his body right after that — nearly destroyed both his parents.

14) **Sakan Somumi** (**Ten'i Orai**) was first introduced in _Ikkitōsen_ manga episode #54. The reason that her battle name was augmented with the "style name" element "Orai" is explained in part 39 of _PFtA_.

15) The other _Negima_ characters introduced near the end of this part were mostly background characters in the manga series. **Kakizaki Misa**, **Kugimiya Madoka** and **Shiina Sakurako** tended to serve as a sort of "Greek chorus" role in the series, though they did shine in several episodes. As for **Zazie Rainyday**, she was a total unknown in the series…until Negi and his students encountered Zazie's elder sister **Poyo Rainyday** at the end of the manga story "Ala Alba, Charge!" (manga episode #294); Poyo's name would be revealed in the next story, "The Final Decision!"

As an aside, Zazie's "friends" — a group of human-sized, monster-like masked blobs who all resemble the character of **No-Face** from the very popular 2001 film _Spirited Away_ by the famous Miyazaki Hayao — first appeared in the "A Convenience Store Ghost's New Friend" segment of the manga story "A Single Frame of a Youthful Summer" (manga episode #175). Given Zazie's obvious connections to the "demon folk" as witness what was revealed concerning her sister Poyo — and the fact that Zazie is a member of the royal family of the Demon Folk — the chances are go that her "friends" are all special attendants who are always around to protect her.

16) The **Griffon-dragon** was first introduced in the "Magical Girl Yūe" extra episode of the 2009-10 _Mahō Sensei Negima! Mō Hitotsu no Sekai_ OVA series.

17) Finally, if anyone **_doesn't_** know who **Luna Lovegood** is, where've you been for the last two decades or so?!


	4. A Day In The Life of Moroboshi Ataru

Several hundred light-years away from the Planet of Shadows…

"**_DISOBEDIENT ROBOT! GIVE THAT…UUURRKGH!_**"

The aged alien woman — save for her tapered ears, she looked totally human and appeared to be in her late seventies in Terran terms — gargled as the business end of a flung kama scythe ripped through her windpipe to tear that open as well as sever the carotid arteries and jugular veins on the right sight of her neck, allowing a shower of blood to explode from the torn vessels. Fortunately, the young woman who had just ended the old crone's life wasn't bothered by such a torrent of life-giving fluids; the kama that had just killed the older woman had been thrown with the speed of a fastball into her by a sneering Hinase Minami. "Shut the fuck up, bakayaro!" the second-place finisher for Episode 55/33 of _The Program_ snarled as the other girls — save Inoue Keiko — who had just awoken on this strange place levelled the alien pistol-like weapons they had snared from their current captors at them. "Now, is _someone_ going to bother to tell us what's going on here?! What the fuck _**are**_ you, what in the name of the Kami are we doing here and where the hell are the guys in our class?!"

**_You could telepathically interrogate them to ascertain your answers, Hinase Minami._**

The twenty-three female students of Kōbe 2nd District Junior High School Class 3C for the 1999-2000 school year perked on hearing that weak yet echoing voice emanate from the strange device now in Keiko's hands. "We're TELEPATHS now?!" the lone foreign exchange student — which had not spared her from the horrors of _The Program_ — in their group, Jeanne-Marie Amélie de Beauharnais, demanded, her blue eyes wide.

**_Yes, Jeanne-Marie Amélie de Beauharnais_**, the mace-shaped device with the oil tank-shaped energy crystal at one end replied. **_The biological android bodies you were just given possess the ability to use a tactile form of telepathy. On physically touching any of your prisoners, you can comprehend all their thoughts in an instant._**

The other girls all blinked. "Like Vulcans on _Star Trek_," Hakufu Kimiko stated as she gazed wide-eyed at Keiko. "Holy shit! First _The Program_, now…!"

"Oh, shut it, Hakufu!" Minami snapped before she walked over to one of the half-dozen young men — whom she had to personally admit were pretty handsome fellows, appearing to be in their early twenties…though given they were all aliens, that could only be just a wild-ass guess — who were clearly the subordinates of the old bitch she just ripped the throat out of. Reaching down to pull the blood-soaked kama from the deck, the girl with the stormy grey eyes and the wavy blonde-brown hair then smiled at them, flashing them the same look she had on her face minutes before — in her viewpoint — in the back streets of Kōbe when she was about to take Kawada Shōgo down and win the game. "Now, boys…" she said with a sensuous voice…before hissing out, "_**MOVE!**_"

All of them — including the boy that Minami had targeted for interrogation — scrambled to get away from her. Using lightning-fast reflexes she never knew she had, Minami lunged in to deliver a place-kick right down _there_ on the man she wanted to question. As he croaked at that impact and collapsed to the deck, she dropped…and sent the tip of the kama into his crotch! As he shrieked in agony at such an unkind cut, her hand landed on his face…and then Minami gasped as alien images exploded deep in her brain. Both remained frozen for a moment as memories and knowledge transferred between each other's minds at a speed that would have driven most normal people mad…

…but Hinase Minami was no normal person by any stretch of the imagination.

Not anymore.

_The Program_ had effectively seen to that.

Not to mention…

_No fuckin' way…!_

After what seemed an eternity — it actually was a minute by the LED clock posted on one bulkhead of this futuristic meeting room someplace; the old woman had told them they were on a spaceship and could not leave it as they were nowhere close to any planet — Minami's hand pulled away from the face of the man she was touching. As all the strength in his body faded as his mind totally shut down from the rampant assault on all its synapses by her telepathy, the reborn third-year middle school student from Kōbe slowly got up. "Oh, Kami-sama…!"

"What, Minami-chan?! What?!" Ieyoshi Chikako — the pale girl with the bobcut dark brown hair and the blue-grey eyes had been the second student killed by Shōgo during their "game" — fearfully demanded as she walked over to gently support her classmate; they hadn't been real friends back in school, but right now…

Minami blinked for a moment as her mind fast-processed the information she had just received from the man she just mind-raped — there was a touch of revulsion deep in her heart on doing that, but it hadn't turned into any type of physical nausea — and then she took a deep breath. "We were brought here to put down Shōgo, Chikako-chan," she said.

Keiko paled. "_**WHAT?!**_"

An amused smirk crossed the other girl's face. "Wanna know why the old bitch here just called us 'robots,' Keiko-chan?" she asked as she gazed on the taller woman with the long, wavy black hair and the warm brown eyes. "Because in every sense of the term, we ARE robots now. That THING there…" — she pointed to the mace-like device in Keiko's hands — "…actually was used to CREATE us, like some other thing…"

**_You are partially incorrect, Hinase Minami._**

Many of the other girls gazed on the device in question, though those covering the still-conscious men in the room kept their attention — and the pistols they had seized — on them to ensure they couldn't do anything. "What do you mean?!" Keiko demanded.

_**Your current body is newly-created, Inoue Keiko. It is a biological android — "bioroid," to borrow the accepted shorter term — clone of your original body. Your soul, however, was shifted across the dimensional barriers by me at the moment you — as well as each of your classmates — died during the event you know of as**_** The Program ****_to be granted new life within your present physical forms. Your would-be "masters," however, refuse to accept that you are sentient beings in your own right; due to the nature of your re-birth…_**

"We're nothing more than flesh-and-blood _machines_, you mean," Amélie finished.

_**Correct.**_

"What about Shōgo and the others?!" Keiko demanded.

_**I assisted in the restoration of Kawada Shōgo to full function — alongside the other male members of Shiroiwa Junior High School Class 3B in the 2000-2001 school year; that was the educational institution that Kawada Shōgo transferred to after his participation in your episode of **_**The Program****_ — thirty-six Earth days ago on the Dyson sphere known colloquially as "the Planet of Shadows," Inoue Keiko. They were at that location when Heikiko odai-Meinyak — the woman who was just killed by Hinase Minami — seized myself from the person of Anma dai-Biitan; it was she who led the expedition to have your would-be_**** surei'cha ****_and his male classmates from Shiroiwa restored to full function._**

"_Heretic…!_"

Twenty-three pairs of eyes locked on the man who had just said that. As he sensed those grim and lethal stares now coming his way, he cringed as he tried to make himself as small as possible to them. "Fuckin' religious nut-jobs!" Minami snarled out.

"What do you mean, Minami-chan?" Kimiko demanded.

Minami jerked her chin at their hostages. "They're part of a religious dictatorship who says it's all blessed and okay for them to abuse Avalonians — bioroids like us — all to their hearts' content, Kimiko. We're supposed to be nothing more than _**sex dolls**_ to these worthless losers!" As the other girls tensed, the second-place finisher in their episode snorted. "Turns out that five months ago, some really shit-hot guy named Moroboshi Ataru came along with buddies from planets named Noukiios and Yehisril to deliver a major-league curb stomping to the Niphentaxians; that's what these losers call themselves as a race." She then smirked at the still-conscious men as they quaked in anger on hearing this "robot" call their race "losers." "What's even better — which is what made the old lady here go after that neat little flashlight you got there now, Keiko-chan — is that there's a similar device out there called the 'Staff of Gihan.' One of Shōgo-kun's new classmates at Shiroiwa has the Staff; she grabbed it from a friend of the old bitch's on the Avalon bioroid factory where our new bodies were first prepared, then vaporised the fucker."

"What are you called, _M'sieur_?" Amélie asked as she gazed at the device.

**_I am addressed as the Genesis Wand of Parah, Jeanne-Marie Amélie de Beauharnais_**, the mace-like device replied with a soft flash emanating from its crystal on every word it "spoke" to its controller's friend. **_Like the Staff of Gihan you just mentioned, I am classified as a_**** Haijo-ju****_, created fifteen thousand of your years ago by my namesake to aid in the rapid terraforming of uninhabitable worlds for humanoid habitation. When Inoue Keiko seized me from the person of Heikiko odai-Meinyak, my current controller's Sagussan-based DNA triggered the loyalty codes imprinted in my central conscience to allow me to restore myself to a semblance of proper function. Still, despite their not being Sagussan genetically, both Heikiko odai-Meinyak and Anma dai-Biitan were able to manipulate my power to see all of you restored to life as well as Kawada Shōgo and his male schoolmates from Shiroiwa._**

"In other words, we should all feel fuckin' lucky," Minami noted.

The others nodded. "Well, we obviously need to get to this Planet of Shadows so we can meet up with Shōgo and the others before we decide what to do next," Keiko said before she focused her attention on the five men who were still conscious and being covered by the others; they had been instantly attacked by the other Kōbe girls when Keiko had yanked the Genesis Wand out of Heikiko's hands, beaten down and disarmed with stunning ease. _These idiots make the bastards in the NADA look totally_ competent_!_ she mused to herself before she levelled the Wand's focusing crystal on them. "Now, gentlemen…and I use that term very _loosely_," she declared. "You're going to help us take this ship — I assume we are on some sort of spaceship — back to this Planet of Shadows so we can get back together again with our friends. Once that's done, you can…!"

A door off to one side of the room then opened. As the heads of Keiko and many of her friends snapped over to gaze on a girl — who was totally NAKED of all things! — of about eight or so, one of the captive Niphentaxian men roared as he bolted to his feet, lunging towards Chikako. "_**DAMNED ROBOT! YOU'LL…!**_"

Weapons opened up to drill him — and all his friends — with burning bolts of energy through all the vital areas of their bodies. As they collapsed dead to the deck, the Kōbe girls all blinked as their minds began to register what they had just done…and then they turned to gaze anew at the pretty girl nearby. Said girl — who was Japanese by looks, possessing dark brown eyes and black hair in a shaggy pageboy cut — gazed dispassionately at the corpses at the feet of her older sisters, and then she turned to look curiously at them. "Does this mean we'll go off and join our sisters on Earth now, Onēsan-tachi?" she then asked in a firm yet very soft voice.

The older girls blinked several times as they took that in, and then Amélie walked over to kneel before the newcomer. "What is your name, _ma petite_?" the lovely young French teenager with the long ponytailed red hair and the deep blue eyes asked.

"I'm Tomoe," the newcomer stated before she blinked. "You're built to be French?"

"I AM French, little one," Amélie stated with her kindest smile. "Unlike whatever these uncultured swine believed me to be, I was actually BORN on Earth. Originally from Grenoble in _le Département d'Isère_; that's close to Switzerland." A sigh. "However — as we just discovered — my friends and I come from an Earth of a different dimension than your own." She then gave Tomoe a concerned look. "I assume that's not the same for you," she then said.

Tomoe shook her head…and then she paused for a moment before she reached up to gently touch Amélie's face. The only foreign exchange student of the Kōbe girls then gasped as she felt something flood into her from that contact, memories of events from her past life in the Rhône-Alpes region in the southeast of France — and later in the Greater East Asia Republic — replaying with the speed of a motion picture reel before her mind's eye. A moment later, that contact was broken — which made Amélie shudder as she felt a touch of sudden loneliness at _**not**_ having something so pure and innocent touch her soul like that — as Tomoe then gazed on Keiko. She then walked over, ignoring the dead bodies of her former mistress and her young friends as she placed herself in front of Kawada Shōgo's girlfriend. Sensing what the young girl had in mind, Keiko lowered herself to her knees to allow Tomoe to touch her…and then she shuddered as a fast replay of memories surged past her mind's eye for a moment before the contact was severed.

"Inoue Keiko…"

Eyes locked on Tomoe, the other Kōbe girls all tensing on hearing the tone of stunned _recognition_ in their new friend's voice as she stared wide-eyed at her.

"_Battle Royale_…!"

The older girls all blinked. "Isn't that the nickname for the legislation that was passed back in Republic Year Three to start up _The Program_?" Kimiko asked.

Tomoe looked over at her. "It's also the name of a novel written in 1999 on Earth by a man named Takami Kōshun-sensei, Onē-san," she explained. "It was followed by a film the next year. A manga series was created from the novel as well, which was published from 2000-2005 on Earth." A sigh. "In OUR dimension, of course."

"What year is it here, Tomoe-chan?" Chikako asked.

"Two thousand-and-ten. The twenty-seventh of July to be exact."

Amélie did a quick mental calculation. "The Sixty-sixth Year of the Republic."

"Is there a Republic here?!" Minami wondered.

Tomoe shook her head. "No, Onē-san. In this universe, the Empire of Japan lost the Greater East Asia War against the United States of America and her allies in the summer of 1945; the twentieth year of the reign of the Shōwa Emperor."

The older girls considered that. History classes in the Republic of Greater East Asia had long trumpeted the streak of good luck the Imperial Army and Navy had enjoyed in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbour near the end of the sixteenth year of Shōwa — which also gave the _Kido Butai_ the chance to destroy two of America's six then-active aircraft carriers, U.S. Ships _Lexington_ and _Enterprise_, when they had been spotted by submarines approaching O'ahu as Vice Admiral Nagumo Chūichi had launched the third attack wave on the home port of the American Pacific Fleet to destroy as much of the shore facilities as possible — to press the Empire's goals forward until the coming of nuclear weapons thanks to Soviet help four years later ensured they would effectively win the war. The basic lesson was this: Had Nagumo-chūjō NOT launched a third attack to wreck Pearl — and had more submarines NOT been deployed to form an underwater picket line to locate _Lexington_ and _Enterprise_ as they were heading back to their home port — following events of the Greater East Asia War might have played out much differently.

"So there's no _Program_ here?" Kimiko asked.

Tomoe shook her head. On hearing that, all the Kōbe girls all seemed to deflate in relief on realising the horror that had just struck them would never revisit them again. "Thank God…!" Amélie moaned out as her eyes began to tear.

In seconds, all of them save a sympathetic Tomoe were weeping with joy…

* * *

Tomobiki, near the Moroboshi home, two hours before lunch…

"**_MOROBOSHI ATARU!_**"

Ataru perked on hearing that stern voice echo from nearby, and then he moaned. To either side of him, both Noda Satomi and Inada Mizuho had vulgar looks on their faces as the former un-slung the Peacemaker rifle she had with her and the latter hefted up the Staff of Gihan. Before both of them — much less others of their class such as Sōma Mitsuko and Shimizu Hirono — could turn to gaze in the direction of the idiot who had just shouted out their companion's name, Ataru breathed out, "Relax, ladies. She won't hurt any of you since I'm the one that's been keeping her fully functional all this time."

Hearing _that_ odd phrase made the Shiroiwa girls blink before they turned to gaze at a nearby cherry blossom tree, where a very beautiful woman about Ataru's age was now crouching on a particularly thick branch. Dressed in a rather racy bustier-and-short skirt combination with bicep-length leather arm protectors and jika-tabi boots that extended up to mid-thighs, she had a metal plate fixed to her forehead, which was topped with antennae-like wings over her temples. She was very well-formed, with short-cut dirty blonde hair and blue-grey eyes. As soon as the Moroboshi family's new houseguests and their companions all were able to gaze upon the newcomer, Luna Lovegood blinked. "She's an android."

"Gynoid to be exact, Lovegood-sensei," Ataru amended. "Her name's Raika. She's the creation of a VERY perverted robot-maker named Shibamata Kyōsuke…"

"Ah, Satomi-dono told me about him," Nagase Kaede cut in. "Wasn't he imprisoned for life for creating 'dangerous goods that threatened the health and safety of…?'"

"**_ENOUGH! YOU WILL TAKE ME TO GOSHUJIN-SAMA, MOROBOSHI! NOW!_**"

As Raika lunged out of the tree at Ataru, Satomi levelled her Peacemaker and fired. The nimble attack gynoid was quick to flip her body clear of the particle bolt from the Zephyrite assault carbine…and then she gasped as a cocoon of energy snared her well before she got close to Ataru, leaving her suspended in mid-air. "Now, that is enough from you, Mistress Raika," Mizuho stated as she allowed the Staff's long controlling rod to press into her left armpit for more leverage. "Ataru wishes only to help you overcome your carnal urges by allowing you to become a bioroid and be freed of your…!"

"**_NO!_**" Raika screamed out. "**_I WON'T LET YOU TAKE ME AWAY FROM MY MASTER! RELEASE ME!_**"

"Um…you were saying, Ataru-kun?" Shiina Sakurako asked as she gazed in amusement at him.

He sighed. "She's designed effectively as a ninja. She's really no different than Onē-san's friend Kirigakure Tamami in the long term, Sakurako-sempai. But her creator is a perverted old sleaze who gladly mixed sex robot programming into her as well…not to mention a type of 'rabbit system' that forces girls like her to have sex with their programmed master at VERY frequent intervals. If there's no sex…_**KA-POW**_!" He made an exploding motion with his hands, which made many of the Shiroiwa girls wince in horror as they realised what he was now implying. "They'll self-destruct! With a potential blast yield equalling any MOAB the Americans can deploy on the battlefield!"

"How frequent is 'frequent?'" Mitsuko then asked.

"Um…average of SIX times a DAY," he answered matter-of-factly.

The former teenage prostitute gaped. "_**SIX TIMES A DAY?!**_" she shrieked out.

"What a monster!" Nakagawa Noriko gasped.

Rapid nods of agreement from the others. "Oh, that's not all, ladies," Ataru added. "You see, the _very_ unlamented — though I honestly wish I could also say 'late' — Shibamata-hakase decided that he'd take it upon himself to program Raika-chan here to go after his grandson Yōichi." A sigh. "Not to mention a gynoid he fashioned after his own grandniece Minagawa Haruka…and there were about a dozen more whose names I never got when I finally got wind of it…!"

"Does this story have anythin' of a _good_ fuckin' ending?" Hirono wondered.

"Well, for Yōichi — he and I were old elementary school classmates — it got resolved when Onē-san and I moved him and his girlfriend Kimizuka Mimiko up to one of the lunar orbital line stations two months ago," he admitted. "The poor guy was burned out by the time we got to him; these days, he's glad that he's able to sleep with a girl now WITHOUT the need of shagging her every four hours or so!" He sighed as he gazed sadly on the shuddering gynoid now trapped by the Staff of Gihan. "However…"

"Why haven't you just destroyed them?" Satomi asked.

He stared at her. "Satomi, use your empathy. You can sense it, can't you?"

Satomi blinked, and then she focused on Raika for a moment…before she groaned out, "Oh, wonderful! She's actually got a SOUL inside her?!"

"A mesonium crystal inside her central processing cortex," Zazie Rainyday mused as she focused her mage-sight on the feebly struggling gynoid now at Mizuho's mercy.

"Hai," Ataru affirmed. "If we destroy the body, the meson — and by extension, her soul — will survive…but the mental trauma of SELF-DESTRUCTING would pretty much put any of them into a coma once we shifted them into a bioroid body. Atop that, every time we try to subdue them enough to do a soul-transfer, that rabbit system of theirs — added to them being programmed to look on Yōichi as their master and the **_only_** man they could have sex with — cuts in and they make a damned mess every time they escape so they can continue to stay 'loyal' to their master." A snort escaped him. "Even worse, the stupid idiot that built them made damned sure that rabbit system inside them can't be erased; it's hard-wired right into their brains."

"So ever since the Lady Raika and her sisters realised Ataru was the one who took their master away, they've confronted him from time to time in hopes of forcing him to reveal Master Yōichi's present location," Mizuho stated as she recalled the few times over the last two months she had seen such women try to attack him. "Of course, Ataru has not behaved in an improper manner towards any of them as he sees them as human beings and not simple machines as others might have seen them…but he will not go back on his promise to his friend to force him to ensure such intensive intimate relations with such dangerous beings ever again."

The others hummed as they considered that. "So when they attack, what do you do to them, Ataru-kun?" Tanizawa Haruka then asked.

"Use the first several steps of the Gojūni Sanji on them, Haruka-chan," he answered. "Nothing that could be seen as really provocative, but it alleviates their pain enough to let them calm down so I can try to talk to them. They're actually very nice people once you get past their hunger for sex and their program lock on Yōichi…"

"And hopefully, with their brains working straight, you might have actually been able to persuade them to accept becomin' bioroids, right?" Hirono finished.

A tired sigh. "Hai."

Noriko shook her head before she gazed on Raika, focusing her empathy on her for a second before she squared her shoulders. "Mizuho, take Raika-san up to Tower #98 and have her transformed into a bioroid right away," she stated. "The Staff can certainly pull her soul out of her body once the new one is templated. Once that's done, eject the old body into deep space to let it self-destruct where it won't do any harm."

A polite bow of the head. "As you desire, My _Ashi'cha_."

And with a flash of energy — and a wailing scream from Raika for her master — they were gone. The others remained still for a moment before they all gazed on Ataru. "So, what _other_ crazy things happen to you in this burg, Ataru?" Hirono asked.

"Stick around and find out, Hirono. Stick around and find out."

With a laugh, they all headed down the street towards the town Ginza. Satomi flicked on the safety of her carbine before slinging it, and then she slipped her hand into Ataru's as they went; Nakagawa Yūka moved to hug his other arm…

* * *

Ōta Ward in Tōkyō, Kamata Police Station, that moment…

"So you can understand why the Metropolitan Police Department would prefer that no further incidents of this nature happen again," the desk sergeant stated as he gazed on the shuddering middle-aged women who were glaring wrathfully at Mōri Mototsuku and his friends. While Mototsuku was still cuffed given his multiple vows of vengeance against the man who had — in his mind — almost killed him over a year before, the other men were not cuffed as they had expressed remorse over the matter…though the sergeant wasn't too sure it was honest remorse. Still, the five lads were all minors and the proper procedures in a case like this had been followed. With the mothers here now, the boys could be released and he could concentrate on other matters. "Given that there are enough witnesses in Tomobiki who would be quite happy to testify that your son and his friends intended to attack Moroboshi Ataru — the brother of both the _**Director of the Earth Defence Force**_ and _**Imperial Special Agent Forty-nine**_, by the way — with lethal force, any further incidents will see them put on trial for attempted murder. As ADULTS!"

That made Mototsuku's mother Kei and the other mothers all wince as they gazed on the man who was now moving to release their sons. "I understand, Junsa-buchō," Kei said before glaring at her son. While she had been quite upset over what happened to her boy at Moroboshi Ataru's hands, she now knew the whole story concerning Moroboshi Negako and the Promise of Bunka Go-nen; she had been in Tomobiki back in February when Negako had given her demonstration of all the various fighting manoeuvres of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū…and overheard the ninjutsu grandmaster's warning that her last host/adopted younger brother possessed those selfsame skills. Not to mention the fact that he would be no longer inhibited about defending himself against those who wanted to do him harm, even if they were girls. "As a matter of fact, should my moronic son try to do something like that to Negako-sama's brother again, I will wash my hands of him once and for all and leave him to the authorities to be properly dealt with." As Mototsuku jerked on hearing that dire threat, his mother added, "Or even better, allow whoever it was that made him go for a swim yesterday to have her way with him all together!"

"Okā-san…!"

_KRACK!_

"QUIET!" she snarled after decking him with an uppercut.

The sergeant hummed. "Nice punch."

"Arigatō," she said with a faux-sweet smile. "By the way, did you find out who it was that made this moron go for a swim in the first place?"

He sighed as Mototsuku winced. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, Mrs. Mōri."

"This is _**Tomobiki**_ we're talking about, Junsa-buchō."

A tired nod. "Hai, true. Anyhow, are you aware of the novel _Battle Royale_, ma'am?"

The others all blinked…

* * *

The Tomobiki Ginza, Esmeralda's Ladies Boutique, an hour before lunch…

"I have returned!"

Utsumi Yukie — who was beautifully draped in a pair of form-fitting jeans and a white knit sweater that discretely showed off her upper body — turned as Mizuho walked into Tomobiki's most popular women's clothier. "Mizuho! So how's Raika-san?"

"Mistress Raika is now under the tender care of the Lady Negako and the Lady Kaga as she is aided in overcoming the months of agony she has endured thanks to her witless creator, friend Yukie," the would-be warrior-priestess stated as she allowed the Staff of Gihan to elevate itself into the air over her head so she could have both hands free to select clothes. "While she still cares deeply for Ataru's good friend, she's not enslaved to Master Yōichi anymore. As soon as her poor sisters are found, I'll have the same done to them, and then turn them over to Lady Negako and Lady Kaga to help them overcome their trauma so they can go ahead and have productive lives of their own."

"Well, that's a bloody good thing to do. Those girls are rather sweet…but a God-awful nuisance at the same time, especially when it comes to poor Ataru," the middle-aged proprietor of the boutique, an East End Londoner named Esmeralda Stevens, noted as she came up to warmly squeeze Mizuho's hand. She spoke Japanese with her native accent. "Why don't you come over to the lingerie department so that we can build up your new wardrobe from the foundation garments up, Miss Inada."

"Lead on, good shopkeeper," Mizuho bade.

As they headed off — with the Staff floating alongside its current controller — Yukie could only shake her head in amusement before she turned to gaze at a nearby floor-length mirror to inspect herself. She then beamed in delight as she recalled the fleeting mental contact she had with Nanahara Shūya — not to mention Inada Mizuho and Tsukioka Shō — some hours earlier through the Dreamscape. _You'll definitely like_ this_, Shūya-kun_, she mused to herself before perking as her lover came up. "Hey! Oh, wow! That looks great on you, Noriko-vayae!" she said as she gave Noriko a close inspection.

"Dōmo," the shorter girl said as she moved to model herself before the mirror. She also wore jeans, but had a V-neck sweater in a mixed plaid-and-lozenge diamond pattern over her top, a button blouse underneath. "These were the same type of clothes I wore when Shūya and I finally escaped from Japan and were heading to America."

Yukie blinked before she smiled. "I've said it again and again since we woke up in the tower. I'm so glad you both made it out," she said as she squeezed the other girl's shoulders. "If there was anyone I'd want to be with Shūya-kun if I didn't make it off the island…" She sighed. "It would be you."

"Even if Yoshitoki-kun had a crush on me?"

A shrug. "Well, I never knew about that," Yukie admitted. "He always sort of shied away from all of us, remember?" At Noriko's nod as she recalled all those times back in Shiroiwa, the taller girl sighed. "Still, given the choice of all the girls who did crush on Shūya-kun…"

"Minus the girls who might want Ataru-kun now."

Both girls laughed…and then they perked as Luna came up to them. "I took care of your purchases," the daughter of the owner of the _Quibbler_ then stated with a twinkle in her eye. Unlike her fellow Englishwoman, the magical native of Devon spoke Japanese with no accent whatsoever; magical learning techniques guaranteed that. "Much that we can understand how you'd all want to reminisce about your experiences on that awful island, Stevens-sensei does run a very tight ship here. She doesn't like people crying into her clothes before they're properly paid for."

Noriko and Yukie flustered. "Sensei! You d-d-didn't…!" the former sputtered out.

Luna held up a hand to stop their protest. "It's alright, girls," she said. "Think of it as a small token of thanks from magical Britain for you giving Mizuho-chan such wonderful support these last few months. Atop what she did at Azkaban…"

"How many of those blood-suckers did Mizu finally snuff out, anyway?"

"Five hundred-and-eighty-two," Luna answered as Hirono came up, now wearing a faux-leather pair of biker's pants, a black T-shirt with X Japan's logo in white on front and red hearts on both arms with the stage name of the late Matsumoto Hideto in white on them, a pair of high-heel cowboy boots on her feet and a black leather jacket slung over her shoulder, that emblazoned with X Japan's logo on the back. "Oh, my! You look quite dark and terrifying, Hirono-chan. Does Kaori-chan approve?"

"Well, she don't like the hard stuff since she was into R-pop — you'd call it 'J-pop' here — back home," Hirono stated. "But she might surprise me…"

Noriko tilted her head. "Oh, my heavens…"

Hirono tensed. "What?"

A gentle cough made Hirono turn…

…and then she started to drool on seeing Minami Kaori standing nearby, also in black leather with a black T-shirt and jacket over her shoulder…which, given her freckles and glasses, would make her look a little strange to the average viewer. To Hirono — who knew, despite her and Kaori having fallen so hard for each other four months ago, how different her and her lover's interests in everything actually was — she was a sexy knockout.

She then blinked on seeing the logo on the T-shirt. "What the hell is 'YMO?'"

"'Yellow Magic Orchestra,'" Kaori answered. "An electronic rock band."

Hirono blinked, and then she nodded in approval. "She's gettin' there!"

Luna, Noriko and Yukie all laughed as Hirono and Kaori exchanged a warm kiss…

* * *

Meanwhile, in deep space near the Planet of Shadows…

"Damn…!"

"That _lunatic_…!"

"What a guy…!"

"Shōgo…"

"So that's why he was going all out in _The Program_."

Eyes locked on Hinase Minami for a moment, and then the other girls from Kōbe seemed to deflate. "Driven all by the desire to see Keiko survive and win," Amélie de Beauharnais breathed out. "_Sacré Bleu_…if that doesn't show how much he loves you, Keiko, I have utterly no idea what he would have to do _to_ prove it."

Sitting in the command chair on the bridge of the fast star sloop they had literally been reborn on, Inoue Keiko could only try to sniff back her tears as Tomoe turned off the main monitor screen; that had been used to replay the images of the _Battle Royale_ manga for the Kōbe girls to see for themselves. "Yeah," Hakufu Kimiko quietly exhaled. "If you don't claim your man as soon as you see him, Keiko-chan…"

Keiko blinked, and then she sighed. "I shouldn't have got him that bird call."

"What do you mean?" Minami asked.

"Look what happened," Keiko mused. "He kept playing it when he was trying to help Shūya-san and Noriko-san get off that island…and it was enough for that Kiriyama monster to lock in on him and his friends."

"Could you really call someone like Kazuo-san a monster?" Kitano Kaede — it turned out she was a distant cousin of Kitano Yukiko from the Shiroiwa class — then asked. She was a tall and slender girl with bob-cut dark brown hair and deep grey eyes; back at their school, she had been an attacker on the girls' volleyball team. "Look what happened to him when he was a child. Not to mention Mitsuko-san."

"A child who was effectively abandoned by his father and never taught the difference between good and evil when that accident that killed his mother occurred and his brain was damaged…and another child who was raped as a child and eventually made to see sex as the be-all and end-all of life," Keiko stated as she sat back in her chair. The Genesis Wand of Parah was on the arm rest to her right. "Ye gods…and Shōgo picked THAT class to be with so he could go through _The Program_ AGAIN?!"

"He wanted to gut it out from the inside," Ieyoshi Chikako mused from the helm station as Tomoe — now dressed in a pinafore and jean jumper — climbed into her lap to be cuddled; all the Kōbe girls had totally fallen totally in love with their new "little sister" and were determined to care for her no matter what. "Luck was with him that way. Look what that Nanahara guy and his girlfriend ultimately did."

The others considered that, and then they sighed. "Well, there've been escapes before," Minami noted. "People who ducked their heads, kept out of other people's way, chose not to play, found a way to spoof the collars, then got away when others weren't looking. Many made it to Korea, China and Russia, even America and Canada. The goose-steppers in Tōkyō never went crazy in finding them."

"Still…"

Eyes locked on Keiko. "What is it, Keiko-chan?" Kaede asked.

"If we can be brought back, why not all the other players who've died over the years?"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

"Holy shit…we CAN do it!"

Eyes locked on the female _iinchō_ of Class 3C, Shimamura Kimie. A girl as tall as Keiko, she had long dark brown hair she normally styled in a simple ponytail and deep brown eyes on a slender, almost hawkish face. "What do you mean, Kimie?" Amélie asked.

"We've got that!" Kimie said as she waved to the Genesis Wand. "We also have that other device Mizuho-san has! And we got the factory sitting over Earth now! We could actually reach through the dimensional barriers and bring everyone who died — and the ones who survived, too! — to this dimension so they could live their lives in peace!"

The others stared at her, and then they exchanged looks before Chikako closed her tear-filled eyes. "But would we be able to stay?" she quietly asked. "I mean…"

"You will never be able to live full-time in the dimension of your birth, Onē-san."

Eyes locked on Tomoe. As the Kōbe girls got a crash introduction to the _Battle Royale_ story as interpreted by Takami Kōshun-sensei and Taguchi Masayuki-sensei, they had learned the young girl had been an "adopted sister" of sorts to one of Heikiko odai-Meinyak's fellow Guardians, a secret police force in Niphentaxian society which was charged to ensure no disruptive elements could rise to destroy the power the "one true faith" — that the vast majority of Heikiko's people actually looked on an alien **_Oni_** of all things who was only a couple years older than they as their version of an _arahitogami_ or _akitsumikami_ had stunned the Kōbe girls — held over their "flock."

Because of that connection, Tomoe had not — much to the private relief of her new "big sisters" — been sexually abused, though she had been forced to parade around nude after the effective destruction of the Church of Lum over five months before by Heikiko's assistants as a way of ensuring she wouldn't become "uppity" because of the liberation of all her sisters thanks to the Moroboshi siblings, the Noukiites, the Yehisrites and the celestial dragons of both Noukiios and Yehisril. On hearing that, Minami found herself wishing she had got the chance to _**castrate**_ those stupid boys — their bodies had been dumped into space before everyone had moved up to the bridge — and turn them into eunuchs before killing them. On hearing that vow, class clown Kikuchi Emiko promised that the NEXT time they ran into Niphentaxians, Minami could castrate them all to her heart's content.

"What does that mean, Tomoe-chan?" Kaede asked.

A sigh. "It's the basic law of interdimensional travel, Onē-san. The nuclei of the atoms in your body vibrate at a specific frequency that ultimately keeps you all 'anchored,' so to speak, in the dimension you were physically born in. Each parallel dimension and alternate timeline has a unique nuclei vibratory frequency that all things within those self-same dimensions and timelines are anchored to. When people travel into another dimension — that sort of thing is possible, but not recommended — the vibratory frequency of the electron shells in the atoms change to match up…but the nuclei frequency _doesn't_. This eventually forces all mass that transits into another dimension to return to the dimension of its origin; the average time for a humanoid sentient such as ourselves to return to the dimension of our initial creation is a solar year dependant on planet of birth. So if you had come here in your _original_ bodies, you would still be 'anchored' to the dimension of your birth and must return within a little over 365 Terran days or be forced back. However, now that you were given bodies created HERE…!"

"We have no choice but to live here," Amélie finished for her.

A nod. "Hai."

The older girls all exchanged looks, and then they relaxed. "Well, that's good!" Emiko — an almost-frail girl with curly dark brown hair and almost black eyes that always twinkled — noted. "Since the Japan of this dimension never became the Republic, we can all migrate there and live out the rest of our lives. _All_ of us!"

"But what about bringing all the other _Program_ players here, Emiko?!" Minami asked. "That was…what?! How many are we dealing with?!"

_**To the point Kawada Shōgo underwent**_** The Program ****_a second time, Hinase Minami, the total number of participants — both survivors and slain — is 108,822 sentients. Divided by gender, the numbers are 66,381 females and 42,441 males_**, the Genesis Wand answered.

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

"_Mon Dieu_…that's the population of a major CITY!" Amélie breathed out.

"It wouldn't have been noticed in the Republic, Amé-chan."

Eyes locked on a misty-eyed Kimie. "What do you mean?" Amélie asked.

The _iinchō_ for the girls in their class shrugged. "Well, you average forty students a week for fifty weeks a year…and spread that over fifty-three years since _The Program_ got started. It didn't impact our society as much as some people would like to think it did. After all, people die from natural causes, car crashes, train wrecks, airplane crashes, natural disasters like earthquakes, tsunamis and volcanoes, epidemics and plagues…"

"Given the population of the Republic at the time…" Keiko added.

"How large was the population, Onē-san?" Tomoe asked.

"Over two hundred million," Chikako replied.

The young Terran-form Avalonian hummed. "Well, the Japan of this dimension only has about a hundred and twenty million people in it." As the older girls gaped at her, Tomoe shrugged. "No doubt, given that your Republic ultimately won the Greater East Asia War, the amount of casualties — both civilian and military — was far less than what Japan here suffered. With that, a 'baby boom' most likely developed…"

"Thus crowding out the country," Minami finished. "So we'll have a place to stay."

The other Kōbe girls nodded. "Where, though?" Emiko asked in a serious voice, which was somewhat alien from a girl like her. "In the Kōbe in this dimension?"

Keiko sighed. "We'll worry about it once we're on Earth, Emiko-chan," she then declared. As the others gazed on her, Kawada Shōgo's girlfriend turned to gaze on Tomoe. "Please tell me that you know how to pilot this ship, Tomoe-chan."

A confidant smirk crossed the younger bioroid's face. "Onē-san, what do you think I've been doing since I was dragged onto this ship in the first place before the Liberation happened in February?" She then hopped off Chikako's lap to head over to the piloting station. "Where to?"

"The Planet of Shadows," Keiko ordered. "How soon?"

"Two hours?"

A smirk. "Make it so!"

The others all laughed on hearing that classic _Star Trek_ line…

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Tomobiki…

The shopping trip to Esmeralda's lasted until lunchtime. By then, all of the Shiroiwa girls had got out of their replicated school uniforms and were now in trendy clothes that matched their personal likes and desires…save for Inada Mizuho, who had procured for herself several sets of totally white kimonos with equally-white nagajuban robes to be worn underneath them and white pairs of umanori-style hakama trousers to go with the kimonos. On seeing the mistress of the Staff of Gihan now draped in total white from neck to toe — which did match the standard colour pattern for clothes worn by Zoroastrian clerics as the colour indicated purity — Ataru had been shocked to learn that Esmeralda Stevens often stocked traditional local clothing amongst the racks of trendy Western clothes that seemed the primary focus of her business; when his own sisters had gone out to get their own kimonos in March, they had visited a specialty shop that Negako knew of in Yoshiwara, the former red-light district in Tōkyō's Taitō Ward which currently served as the central shopping district for Japan's magical citizens. After Luna Lovegood used her magic to shrink all the purchases to ensure they didn't weigh anyone down, the mass of chatting girls and one teenage man who was their local escort made their way down the main strip of the Ginza towards a back street that would lead right to the Kissaten Nekohanten, one of the more popular restaurants for Tomobiki High students. As rāmen — much to the shock of the native Japanese of this dimension — was seen as food meant ONLY for the elite in the Greater East Asia Republic, everyone was more than happy to have a bowl of the wonderful noodle-and-broth dish.

"I don't get it!" Kugimiya Madoka then declared.

"You don't get what, Madoka-sempai?" Ataru asked.

"Why the hell is _**rāmen**_ of all things a _**delicacy**_ in their universe?!" the black-haired tomboyish girl with the dark grey eyes demanded. "It's so easy to make!"

The others hummed. "Well, the general 'point of divergence' — as the alternate history buffs always like to call it — between our universe and the Republic's universe appears to be the Pearl Harbour attack in 1941," Tatsumiya Mana — who had elected to make herself appear to be a "visible" bodyguard to the Shiroiwa girls (and Ataru) after Raika's attempted attack on the Terran tag race champion — stated. "Rāmen only really took off in Japan here in the late 1950s when the instant brands came out. Did you ever have anything like that back home?" she then asked the Shiroiwa girls.

Many of them shook their heads. "Not really, Tatsumiya-sempai," Yūka answered. "Back home, rāmen's seen as a Chinese delicacy. The popular noodle dishes back home are soba and udon since they're made out of buckwheat. Rāmen's made from proper real wheat."

Mana hummed. "Which was imported into Japan here from America in the late 1940s as a way of overcoming the near-famine conditions in the country because of the war…"

"**_MOROBOSHI ATARU!_**"

Everyone stopped as Ataru moaned on recognising that imperious female voice. "So what is it THIS time?" Hirono wondered as she gazed in amusement at him while drawing out her Lawgiver from the inside pocket of her new leather jacket. "Another sex-bot?"

"No, just a bunch of fan-girls who fawn over a classmate of mine," he answered as he gazed down the alley towards a wall of angry women his age about ten metres away. "What the hell do you want NOW, Ogin?!" he demanded as he crossed his arms.

At the head of the mixed-school group of girls that she had gathered, Ogin Haneko — she was a third-year student at the Sanrinbō Institute who had become the default leader of Mendō Shūtarō's town-wide fan club, the "Rosebuds," when Miyake Shinobu mustered them together in mid-September after she had overheard her ex-boyfriend talk to Aisuru Satoshi about finally quitting…and believed that Ataru was about to finally dump Hensō; in truth, he intended to quit being the _iinchō_ for Class 1-4 — jerked on sensing twenty-one VERY angry girls glare at her from both sides of the man she and her friends were now targeting. Steeling herself, she pointed an accusing finger at him. "This is YOUR fault, Ataru-kun!" she snarled out.

He blinked several times, and then he sighed. "What is supposedly my fault, Ogin?"

"You know what I'm talking about!"

"Actually, I don't."

"Oi, Ataru! What say we just stun these idiots unconscious, then MIND-RAPE the lot to figure it out!" Hirono then demanded as she levelled her Lawgiver at them.

Instantly, a baker's dozen more Lawgivers and two Peacemakers — Chigusa Takako served as the Shiroiwa girls' other long rifleman — locked on target, making the Rosebuds yelp on seeing such firepower now aimed at THEM. And obviously in protection of _**Moroboshi Ataru**_…which for the girls who were so much in love with Mendō, went totally against the natural order of things in Tomobiki! "Now, now!" he gently scolded. "No need to beat up on dumb animals…!"

"_**HEY!**_" the Rosebuds all screamed out.

"They're worse than dumb animals, dearest Ataru!" Mizuho stated as she hefted the Staff of Gihan to level THAT at target. As all the Rosebuds screamed out on seeing the focusing crystal of that ancient weapon glow a bright white, the would-be warrior-priestess smirked. "Now, let us lead these unworthies to the slaughterhouse…!"

With wailing screams and clouds of smoke marking their passage, all the girls who had moved to attack Ataru ran for their lives. Once they were gone, the Shiroiwa girls all relaxed. "So what the fuck was _**that**_ all about, man?" Hirono then demanded.

A sigh. "Most likely, it's because of Mendō and Anna-chan."

"Who?!" many of them demanded.

"Let's go eat and I'll explain it to you."

The others nodded as they proceeded towards the Nekohanten…

* * *

The Kissaten Nekohanten, a few minutes later…

"So let me get this straight: When Mendō Shūtarō's would-be fiancée became an Avalonian a few weeks ago — and then had her time of the month with his own sister, thus effectively ending the feud between their families — Anna-chan moved in right away to claim her 'Nii-chan' as her new boyfriend. When those airheads we just chased off found out about that, they turned around and blamed YOU?!"

Ataru nodded. "That's it in a nutshell, Mitsuko."

Mitsuko — who was seated beside him at a table inside the popular rāmen and takoyaki restaurant located two blocks from the front gate of Tomobiki High School; the table also had Mizuho, Satomi, Hirono, Kaori and Mitsuko's lover Etō Megumi sitting around it as they waited for their bowls of the noodle dish — shook her head. "I don't get it."

"Oh, it's quite simple, really," he explained as he gently squeezed her hand, which made the former prostitute blush. "The Rosebuds first came together back in September when I decided I'd had enough of being class _iinchō_. I told Megane this when we had a snack after school one day. Shinobu-chan was there — this was shortly after we broke up — and she mistook what I was saying as my declaring that I was going to force Hensō out of my life. Of course, no one considered at the time that if I actually did succeed in driving Hensō out of my life, she'd go back to Uru once and for all. She was dating Mendō then…and was scared that Hensō would switch to him if I dumped her. She called up her best friend from the Shakkō Institute over on the west side of town and arranged a meeting at the Dobu Salada with the major girl gang leaders from the other schools. They tried to force me to take what I vowed back…" He chuckled. "But Megane — who also thought I was dumping Hensō — butted in and allowed me to get away and head off to school." A shake of the head. "Poor guy."

"Bad?" Hirono asked, a knowing smirk crossing her face.

"Well, he recovered pretty quick." A sigh. "The Rosebuds seemed to back off when Mendō's mom agreed to engage him to Mizunokōji Asuka in March. You know about her?" At the others' nod, he breathed out, "But since she was so naïve about a lot of things, they probably didn't think it would go anywhere. When Asuka-chan bonded to Mendō's sister Ryōko-chan, they probably came to believe they had a chance with him…"

"But Anna-chan screwed it up," Megumi cut in. "And since she's an Avalonian and you actually went out to rescue all the Avalonians from slavery…"

"They ultimately blame you for keeping 'their' man away from them," Kaori finished.

"Idiots," Satomi hissed out.

By that time, the waitresses — all Avalonians, the Shiroiwa girls were quick to sense — moved to serve the rāmen. After Ataru — and the other guides with the Shiroiwa girls today — showed the middle school seniors from another dimension on how to properly eat the wonderful noodle dish, they all dug in. As the Shiroiwa girls were all from an area close to Tokushima on Shikoku, Ataru suggested the local type of rāmen, which was quite similar to his own beloved Hakata-style tonkotsu rāmen though it was topped with slices of marinated baraniku and a raw egg. Fortunately for them, the owner of the Nekohanten — a forty-something Tomobiki native named Matsuhama Seiji — had travelled across all of Japan to learn various rāmen styles after he graduated from high school before coming back to take ownership of the Nekohanten from his father; the restaurant had been in the Matsuhama family for six generations. Because of his willingness to serve many types of rāmen — even Korean-style spiced ramyŏn when Hensō had been living in Tomobiki — Matsuhama was the proud owner of the most popular eatery in Nishitōkyō, even earning loud recommendations from international travel publications such as _Lonely Planet_…which had brought the tourists in droves over the last half-decade. "Ne, Ataru-kun, what's going to happen to these girls now?" the waitress who had brought up Ataru's order then asked.

"Well, we'll have to contact Kay-san and Jay-san to tell them that we've got to get the girls legally registered as landed immigrants here in Japan," he answered. "Once that's done, they'll need time to learn the local history and culture so they could feel at home here. After that, if they're interested, they can start their first year of high school in April." He then smirked. "Would you believe _**rāmen**_ is restricted to the elite of the Republic in their universe?!" he demanded as he waved to his bowl.

"_**WHAT?!**_" Matsuhama screamed out from behind the bar; Ataru and his friends were seated at the table closest to where the many vats of broth were steaming away ready to be served. "Only _**rich people**_ in their dimension eat rāmen?! That's _**sacrilege**_! What sort of deprived cesspool did these poor girls come from, anyway?!"

Many of the Shiroiwa girls and their guides for the day snickered on hearing that. "A deprived cesspool that gladly MURDERS an average of FORTY innocent kids every WEEK, Oji-san," Ataru snarled as he gazed knowingly at the Nekohanten's owner.

He paled. "Every WEEK?!" he eeped.

A nod. "Hai! That's one of two things the _Battle Royale_ manga here didn't get right!"

Matsuhama considered that for a moment, and then he sighed. "Well, they're safe now," he noted. "What about their classmates, Ataru-kun? I know that was a mixed class."

All the Shiroiwa girls perked. "Book, movie or manga, Oji-san?" Satomi asked.

"Movie," he affirmed, and then he blinked. "You're Noda Satomi, aren't you?"

An embarrassed nod; no doubt, the lighthouse massacre had been a prominent scene in that particular movie. "Hai," Satomi weakly answered before she perked as Mizuho reached over to gently squeeze her shoulder. "I panicked," she then confessed.

The other Shiroiwa girls gave her knowing looks. "Madness…!" Matsuhama breathed out, and then he tensed on hearing the door open. "Irasshaimase!"

"**_MOROBOSHI ATARU!_**"

Ataru moaned. "Not when I'm eating _lunch_…!" he hissed out.

Mitsuko snarled as she snap-drew her Lawgiver, then sent a Level 12 bolt of energy at the woman who had barked out Ataru's name. Said shot slammed into the nose of a rather pretty yet elderly woman with a face frozen in a demure smile and sparkling eyes. As the poor woman collapsed unconscious to the floor close to the main door, the former prostitute slipped her weapon back into the inside pocket of her jacket. "Somebody, toss that bitch out of here! Might want to slit her throat, too!" she bade as she turned back to her rāmen.

"Mitsuko, you're mean!" Ataru hissed out.

"I deserve to be mean, Ataru!" she said as she leaned over to kiss him on the lips.

He blushed on sensing that soft contact…and the surge of raw passion towards him she now felt. "I'll handle it," Tatsumiya Mana said as she got up and grabbed the dazed Mizunokōji Saeko by her hair to drag her out of the restaurant. Ignoring the half-dozen Kurotenshi who were standing guard on the street — all of whom turned VERY pale on seeing the infamous demon-hunter from Mahora there, which made them freeze in their tracks and nearly soil their panties — Mana then tapped several shiatsu points on Saeko's back and neck before contemptuously tossing her at the feet of the leader of the Mizunokōji Clan's pretty troupe of bodyguards, Makige Kinko.

"She's now as weak as a kitten…and only _**I**_ can break that shiatsu lock on her strength," Mana declared as her chestnut brown eyes began to glow with pure crimson fire, that making the Kurotenshi all croak on horror. "So take her back to her little hovel and warn her that the NEXT time she tries something stupid, her son gets to _**inherit**_ quite earlier than she planned!" Her eyes then flared. "**_MOVE!_**"

They vanished in a cloud of smoke, several of them carrying the unconscious Saeko. Mana watched them go, and then stepped back inside to return to her table and finish off her lunch. "Mana-sempai?" Ataru called out.

She gazed at him. "Hai?"

"Ask Onē-san for a bonus."

She blinked, and then nodded. "Hai!"

With that, she returned to her table — she had sat together with her former middle school classmates — and finish off her rāmen. "You're getting PAID to do this, Mana-chan?!" Kakizaki Misa demanded as she gave the hunter a scandalous look.

Mana slurped her noodles. "Misa, bullets and guns cost _money_, remember?!"

"Besides, the Moroboshi Clan does pay well for services rendered," Zazie added.

"Of course they do!" Mana declared with a wink and a smirk.

The others laughed before they turned back to their meal…

* * *

Meanwhile, out in space…

"Holy shit! That is fuckin' HUGE!"

"At least three hundred-and-fifty million kilometres in diameter, Onē-san," Tomoe stated as the fast sloop came to a halt close to — as it seemed to the Kōbe girls — a virtual dark grey WALL that seemed akin to the surface of the Death Star in _Star Wars_…though this great sphere was _millions_ of times larger than that warp-capable, spheroid-shaped flying starbase with a planet-wrecking hypermatter cannon fitted into its northern hemisphere. "I would estimate the internal volume to be approximately 22.5 septillion cubic kilometres."

"How many zeroes is that?" Hinase Minami asked.

"Twenty-four, Onē-san."

The Kōbe girls gaped. "Like you said, Minami…_**holy shit**_!" Kikuchi Emiko breathed out before she blinked. "Wait! What's that green thing there by the airlock?!"

Tomoe tapped a control to magnify the image on the main monitor screen fixed to the deckhead at the forward end of the bridge by the transparent aluminum view ports that allowed everyone else to gaze out on the relatively flat outer surface of the Planet of Shadows. As the image came up, everyone then gaped. "A _**road sign**_?!" Emiko demanded.

The others snickered as they read:

**_Welcome to_****  
****THE PLANET OF SHADOWS****  
****_Those wishing to invade, please use the back entrance_**

"Ah…right!" Minami breathed out. "Someone sure got bored!"

"The Keeper — he was the guardian of the Genesis Wand while it was here — is said to be quite eccentric, Onē-san," Tomoe helpfully provided as she chuckled.

Inoue Keiko sighed. "Take us inside, Tomoe-chan."

"Hai, Onē-san."

With a key of the thrusters, the sloop surged forward. Instantly, sensor units posted around the large airlock ahead of them detected their vessel, and then began to open to allow the tiny craft to soar into the protected environment inside…

* * *

Near the Crystal Palace…

"Eh?"

Niida Kazushi perked on hearing that voice from the gentle giant now at the sensory station of the _Shiroiwa Express_, and then he looked over. "What is it?"

"Something on long-range scanners," Akamatsu Yoshio stated as he keyed the controls under the monitor screen. "Just a moment, Kazushi-san…"

Yoshio's fingers flew over the keyboard. Watching him go to work, the silver-haired, grey-eyed Kazushi could only shake his head in awe. _Damn! Wish I could type as fast as that!_ he mused as the class' resident video game expert — which made him perfect to run the _Express_' sensor and weapons systems once he mastered the basics of Niphentaxian computer programming with the assistance of his girlfriend, Kusaka Tsuzumi — went to work analysing what had just caught his interest. _Lucky for us that we got babes like Hitomi-chan, Tsuzumi-chan and all the others — even Shigeki — to help us out here! _

_And now that the girls know we're up and about…!_

"Kazushi-sama?"

He perked as a cup of sencha was held out for him. "Dōmo," he said as he took it from a slender, smiling girl with shaggy strawberry blonde hair done up in high ponytails above and behind her ears and dark grey eyes peeking out of a face that — _Sacrilege!_ he thought to himself — was far more beautiful than Chigusa Takako could ever be.

Remembering the girl he had lusted after for a long time — and whom he targeted when the reality of _The Program_ slammed into him like a tsunami and he totally lost it, calling himself the "Stone-Cold Killer Niida Kazushi" as he went off to survive — Kazushi sighed as he sipped his tea. Instantly, Honda Hitomi — her birth-name was Toros dai-Honsha, which was actually kind of close in sound to her chosen Japanese name — leaned against him as she allowed her sexdroid programming to initialise in her cyborg body so she could be ready to respond to any sort of thing her wonderful Kazushi-sama would desire. Gazing down at her, the Shiroiwa boys' soccer team forward tried not to frown. Like the others of his class, he was more than grateful for what Fujino Shigeki had instigated five months ago that ultimately saved all their lives…but the sheer level of pure _**devotion**_ that Tsukioka Shō's would-be boyfriend and his fellow Niphentaxians showed to them…!

_Hopefully, as soon as we get to the damned factory to get these people new bodies free of that Hifuto shit, they'll calm down and stop being so slavish to us_, he mused as he wrapped an arm around Hitomi, leaning over to kiss her forehead.

While Hitomi was one incredible lover and was totally enamoured with Kazushi — he had mind-probed her once shortly after he had endured the Awakening and wanted to try out his telepathic skills, so he knew how much she cared for him; Kawada Shōgo would later warn his classmates off from doing that due to what the deadly little filovirus particles in the organic parts of their rescuers' bodies might be ultimately doing to their thought processes — there were still his deep attraction for Takako…not to mention the guilt he now felt over losing it like he did on Oki-shima. _Then again, that was the whole fuckin' point of_ The Program_!_ he noted. _It was a simple choice. Either kill to survive or get ready to die! Damned…!_

"Damn it!"

His head snapped over. "What is it?!"

Yoshio was scowling. "They're back!"

Kazushi blinked, and then he screamed out, "_**KAZUO!**_"

Fast footsteps soon heralded the arrival of the most successful player in their class. As usual for him, Kiriyama Kazuo was completely composed and calm…which rather struck Kazushi as odd given that the other man now had a brain that hadn't been damaged thanks to a childhood car accident that killed his mother. "What is it?" he asked.

"They're back, Kazuo-san," Yoshio reported. "Just passed through the main gate."

Kazuo nodded. "Kazushi, you feel confident enough with a Peacemaker?"

"Fuckin' A, man!" Kazushi said as he swallowed the tea Hitomi made. "Let's smoke those motherfuckers and get the damned Genesis Wand back! We need it!"

A curt nod as they raced off the bridge. "What can I do, Yoshio-sama?" Hitomi asked.

"Take over here!" Yoshio said. "I'll man the weapons! Get the others up here!"

"Hai!"

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

1) _Yatsura_ character and location notes: Otako Meinyak's genetic mother **Heikiko odai-Meinyak** first appeared in _The Senior Year_ story "Great Father Ataru Stage Two: Remembrance;" **Esmeralda Stevens** first appeared in the _TSY_ story "Arrive Reiko-chan;" the **Kissaten Nekohanten** was first mentioned in the manga story "Food Fight" (manga episode #106); **Ogin Haneko** (the given name is my creation), the **Rosebuds** and the **Dobu Salada** restaurant first appeared in the anime episode "Goodbye Season" (anime episode #64); **Mizunokōji Saeko** (the given name is my invention) first appeared in the manga storyline "That Mizunokōji Girl" (manga episodes #221-224); and the **Kurotenshi** (literally "Black Angels") first appeared in the manga story "Let's Have That Bikini" (manga episode #44) (it should be noted that the group's name is my invention, as is the name given to the leader of the group, **Makige Kinko** [she's the woman with the curly light-coloured hair cropped off at the neck]).

2) Save for three people, **Kawada Shōgo**'s classmates from Kōbe 2nd District Junior High School were not named in the _Battle Royale_ manga. **Hinase Minami** is my name for the girl that sneaks up behind Shōgo in the manga story "Coming Home" (manga episode #102), which **Inoue Keiko** (in the novel and movie, her family name is given as "Onuki") tried to shoot down before the other girl could shoot Shōgo; this is what triggered his reaction that saw Keiko killed. A French exchange student (gender unknown) to Shōgo's class was mentioned in the story "Rejection" (manga episode #101); the name I give her here, **Jeanne-Marie Amélie de Beauharnais**, is my creation. I physically model Amélie on the ponytailed girl in the flashback frame showing many smiling kids in the story "The Identity of the Heart" (manga episode #100) just before Shōgo describes to Shūya and Noriko about how _The Program_ makes players demonize their classmates. **Hakufu Kimiko** was also mentioned in "Rejection;" her given name is my creation. She was the girl who offered sex to Shōgo, but he refused her and killed her. **Ieyoshi Chikako** is my name for the scared and crying girl with the Luger pistol who comes out of a side alley to try to shoot Shōgo down in that story. **Kitano Kaede**, **Shimamura Kimie** and **Kikuchi Emiko** are my own creations.

3) Translations: **Kama** — A hand-held scythe normally used to reap crops…and became a very handy personal weapon as time marched on (as Sōma Mitsuko demonstrated so well in _Battle Royale_; this was her initial weapon); **Surei'cha** — Literally "the one with whom you birth a child" and normally translated as "child-mate," this is the term applied to the co-parent of one's child; **-tachi** — The Japanese language convention that is the equivalent to the English plural "-s" ending to nouns indicating more than one thing or person; **Ma petite** — My little one; **le Département d'Isère** — Isère Department (a **department** in France is equal to a Japanese prefecture…which is ironic because in France, the word **prefecture** [in French, _préfecture_] is used for a department's administrative centre as Grenoble is for Isère); **Kido Butai** — Literally "Mobile Force," this was the convenient tactical designation given to the Imperial Japanese Navy's carrier strike force (the proper designation for the fleet that attacked Pearl Harbour on 7 December 1941 was the **First Air Fleet** [in Japanese, _Daiichi Kōkū Kantai_]); **Chūjō** — Navy vice admiral/Army lieutenant general/Air Force air marshal (NATO rank code OF-8), which is a **three star** general/admiral; **Goshujin-sama** — Master; **MOAB** — Pronounced "moh-ab," this acronym literally means "Massive Ordnance Air Blast" though it is often nicknamed the "Mother Of All Bombs," which is the designation of the **GBU-43/B** tritonal-and-fuel cocktail mixture filled gravity bomb developed by the United States in 2002 to be dropped from a heavy transport plane in a "shock and awe"-type campaign with its eleven-tonne TNT-equivalent blast yield; **Hakase** — Name suffix honorific for a university professor; **Junsa-buchō** — Literally "patrol investigating department chief" and normally translated as "sergeant," this would be the police rank of a supervisor of a local police box; **Sacré Bleu** — A classic French profanity which is normally used as a cry of surprise or anger, literally meaning "sacred blue" (that colour being always associated with the Virgin Mary); **Mon Dieu** — My God; **Nagajuban** — Literally "long jacket robe," this is the pale undergarment worn under a kimono to ensure the outer silk garment (which would be quite hard to clean) doesn't come into contact with the wearer's skin; **Umanori** — Literally "horse-riding hakama," this is the legged version of the standard hakama (which is normally a long, ankle-length skirt); **Takoyaki** — Literally "heated octopus," this is a popular snack where diced octopus flesh is mixed with _tenkasu_ (tempura scraps), pickled ginger and green onions in a wheat flour-based batter that looks distantly like a chicken ball in Chinese sweet-and-sour chicken; **Tonkotsu** — Literally "pork bone," this is a type of rāmen with a cloudy white-coloured broth cooked from boiling pork bones, fat and collagen over high heat for many hours (that type of rāmen is quite popular in Kyūshū, hence its other name **Hakata rāmen**); **Baraniku** — Beef short ribs; **Ramyŏn** — Korean way of saying "rāmen."

4) The tale of Ataru's friend and his problems with **_very_** amorous companion gynoids is based on the 2003 three-part hentai manga series _Petit Roid 3_ by Kōda Tomohiro. I wouldn't recommend the series at all due to its overtly paedophilic nature even if the "children" depicted here are all gynoids themselves who have an ability to grow up into either teenagers or adults on command.

5) The **Gojūni Sanji** (literally "Fifty-two Mountain Temples") is my take-off on a running joke that has appeared quite often in _The Destroyer_ series of action adventure novels created in 1971 by the team of Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir: The **Steps to Sexual Fulfillment**, which is one of the various sub-schools of the **Sinanju** (which, given the word is supposed to be Korean, should be spelt "_Shin__anju_") school of martial arts as taught to lead character **Remo Williams** by the current grandmaster, **Chiun**. For a wonderful demonstration of the Steps and how it can affect those the practitioner targets, please read the really funny story _Harry Potter and the Sun Source_ by **Clell Harmon** (listed at this website as "Clell65619"), marked as one of my favourites at this website.

6) Many of the schools in Tomobiki take their names from the **Rokuyō** (literally "Six Weekly Days") — also called the **Rokki** ("Six Brilliances") — in the traditional Japanese calendar that mark what sort of luck one might enjoy in a day. The name **Tomobiki** (literally meaning "pulling friends") itself normally indicates that bad luck would fall on one's friends. On Tomobiki days, it is seen as VERY bad luck to have funerals…but also very GOOD luck to have weddings. Along that line, **Shakkō** ("Red Gate") indicates that the whole day would be filled with bad luck save for the "hour of the horse" between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM; this is the reason that in "Goodbye Season," the Shakkō girls all wear red uniforms. Other schools introduced in _Yatsura_ based in Tomobiki include **Butsumetsu** (literally "Death of Buddha," which is the unluckiest day of the Rokuyō as it symbolises the day the Buddha died) and **Taian** (literally "Great Tranquility," the luckiest day of the Rokuyō which is normally when new shops are opened and wedding ceremonies are done).

In line with that theme, the term **Sanrinbō** (literally "Three Neighbouring Collapses") comes from an older calendar system of twelve days that was used in Japan. Like Butsumetsu in the modern Rokuyō system, Sanrinbō — which occurred twice a month — was thought to be such an unlucky day that people didn't start travel nor engaged in any sort of building project.

7) **X Japan** is a heavy metal band that was first formed in 1982 and operated until 1997, when the group broke up and pursued individual interests until the band effectively reformed in 2007. One of the original players in the band was the late **Matsumoto Hideto** (1964-98), known by the stage name "**hide**"…and yes, that name is **_never_** spelt with a capital letter in English. In tribute to Matsumoto's work with X Japan, the band ALWAYS introduces him as part of the lineup at the start of every concert.

8) The **Yellow Magic Orchestra** is an electronic music band that was first formed in 1977 and played together until 1984, reformed in 1992 for a year, reformed again in 2002 for two years and reformed for the third time in 2007. Its members include the famous keyboardist **Sakamoto Ryūichi** (born 1952), bass and keyboard player **Hosono Haruomi** (born 1947) and drummer **Takahashi Yukihiro** (born 1952); all three men handle the vocal chores in the band as well. Sakamoto was introduced to me while I was teaching in Korea from 1996-2005; his music is quite popular there.

9) The terms **Arahitogami** (literally "a kami who is a human being") and **Akitsumikami** (literally "manifest great kami") are two of the general descriptions that has always been used by adherents of Shintō when it came to describing the various Heavenly Sovereigns over the years thanks to their mythological descent from the sun goddess Amaterasu. The late **Shōwa Emperor** (birth name **Hirohito**) (1901-89) was persuaded by the Allies in 1946 to publicly renounce any claims of being an _akitsumikami_…though some believe that the late emperor never renounced his claims of descent from Amaterasu.

10) **Yoshiwara** (literally meaning "lucky meadow") is located in the Senzoku neighbourhood of Taitō Ward in Tōkyō. Yoshiwara was first founded in 1617 near the **Nihon-bashi** ("Bridge of Japan") (located in modern day Chūō Ward east-northeast of Tōkyō Station not far from the Imperial Palace grounds), which was close to the eastern terminus for the **Tōkaidō** ("East Sea Road") highway, one of two such routes that connected Tōkyō (then called **Edo**) where the Tokugawa shōgun was based with the then-Imperial capital city of Kyōto (the other was a less-heavily travelled inland route called the **Nakasendō** ["Central Mountain Road"]; the Tōkaidō paralleled the coastline). After the great Meireki Fire of 1657 nearly burned most of Edo down, Yoshiwara was moved to its present location. These days, Yoshiwara — officially known as **Senzoku 4-chōme** (literally "Fourth District of Senzoku") — has many soaplands and other such sex-trade venues, though the police came down hard on such activities in 2007.

11) **Tatsumiya Mana** is — as noted here — the resident gunslinger girl and demon-hunting mercenary of the _Mahō Sensei Negima_ cast. Possessing demonic ancestry as her dorm-mate Zazie Rainyday does — such was finally revealed in the manga story "Negi's Answer Vs. Fate's Answer" (manga episode #299) — she remained something of a background character in many of the stories in the manga…though she got a chance to shine brightly in both the Mahora Festival and Magical World arcs of the series. And yes, Mana will not do ANYTHING without being properly compensated for it…as she showed when **Aisaka Sayo** was first introduced in the manga story "Here, There and Nowhere" (manga episode #74).

12) Mendō Shūtarō's present girlfriend **Wakatsuki Anna** — based on the character from the Libido game _Hōkago Ren'ai Club_ (known also by the English title "Casual Romance Club") in 1998 — first made her appearance in _Long Way Home_. She — along with the other _HRC_ characters — formed **Shūtarō's Angels**, which serve as his personal advisors and quasi-bodyguards from rabid fan-girls and his own sister Ryōko.

13) The _Lonely Planet_ series of books is the most popular and largest English-language travel guide book and digital media franchise in the world today. First formed in 1972, it is composed of frequently-updated series of travel guides that cover everything from a whole country to a specific city. The corporation which managed the _Lonely Planet_ publications was bought out by the British Broadcasting Corporation in 2011.

14) The road sign jokes concerning the Planet of Shadows was invented by Mike Smith for the _TSY_ story "Be Forever Nassur."


	5. The Inner Demons of Sakaki Yūko

All of the men from Shiroiwa minus Akamatsu Yoshio were soon out on the glade near the _Shiroiwa Express_, forming two fire teams of nine each, equipped with seven Lawgivers and two Peacemakers per team. They now hid behind rocks and in the high grass to await the arrival of the people who had taken the Genesis Wand of Parah from them. The two other boys out here now were Mimura Shinji and Sugimura Hiroki, who had positioned themselves between the two fire teams. The former had a pair of macro-binoculars to allow him to scan whatever was coming it out to a range of a hundred kilometres; _Thank the Kami that this place's horizon goes_ up _instead of_ down_!_ he mused on reflecting on that. The latter — given his very strong pacifist beliefs and his considerable knowledge in Chinese wǔshù — had fashioned a bō made of reinforced duranium so he could use it in combat; there were no trees of any sort in this part of the Planet of Shadows and the metal was easily synthesized aboard the _Express_. As the boys had planned it out after the Genesis Wand of Parah had been taken from Takeshi Mai by the old hag who was in command of the fast sloop now coming their way, Hiroki had Shinji's back.

Beside Kiriyama Kazuo — he commanded Team One; Kawada Shōgo was in charge of Team Two — Kuronaga Hiroshi touched the microphone on his headset. "Lay it on us, girls!"

"The heretic vessel is now a thousand kilometres away and approaching, Hiroshi-sama," Honda Hitomi replied from inside the _Express_. "It appears to be moving to land some distance from your current position. Yoshio-sama has a missile lock on it."

The stocky — getting a new body had eliminated Hiroshi's rather large gut, which was quite a relief to him; he had tried to lose some weight while living in Shiroiwa, but never could keep it down — and bespectacled boy with the buzz-cut dark grey hair and the intensive dark grey eyes nodded before he gave Kazuo a series of hand-signals. The other man nodded, and then calmly stated, "Tell him to hold fire."

Hiroshi relayed that to the people presently on the _Express_. Everyone then relaxed themselves as they waited for the sloop to come to a landing about six hundred metres away at the far eastern end of the glade they were in the middle of. Fortunately for the Shiroiwa boys, their part of the glade was on a rather large drumlin hill topped with lots of rocks and high grass to visually hide their presence from any viewers at the base of the gently-sloping ridge to the east of where the _Express_ was currently. "They aren't actively scanning us, Hiroshi-sama," his own girlfriend Shibata Masako stated; she was manning the electronic counter-measures station on the _Express_' bridge.

"Got it, Masako," he hissed before making hand-signs to Kazuo.

The son of Shiroiwa's richest man blinked on seeing that, and then he hummed as he gazed at the sloop off in the distance as its landing struts deployed. "Odd."

"Why ain't they scannin' us now?" Numai Mitsuru wondered as he levelled one of their team's Peacemakers on target; Niida Kazushi had the other carbine. The hand-signs used by Hiroshi had been developed by Kazuo's gang back in Shiroiwa. "They're totally crazy fuckers…but they ain't stupid, Boss! Something's not right here!"

"Agreed," Kazuo stated.

The sloop finally came down for a landing with a gentle hiss of air. A moment later, the main gangplank deployed. Someone then stepped down. At the distance involved, all the boys had to squint to see what it was…until a shocked gasp escaped Shinji; he was off to Kazuo's right in the middle of the boys' defensive line. "It's a girl!"

All the boys tensed on hearing that, and then Shōgo called out, "Pass that over!"

Shinji handed the binoculars over to Hatagami Tadakatsu — he was at the left end of Team Two's defensive line — which then passed it down to where the only two-time player in _The Program_ was crouched behind a rock, Nanahara Shūya at his right side. Shōgo held the device up to his steel blue eyes and took a look…before he paled in stunned shock. All the boys tensed on sensing the mix of disbelief and hope emanating from their in-house medic, and then they gazed out towards the girl now heading their way. All of them were soon quick to note that she was in what was obviously a school uniform of some sort: White button shirt with tie under a tan knit vest over a thigh-length dark brown skirt, knee-length socks over slip-on shoes covering her feet.

That, they knew, was the girl's uniform for Shōgo's old school in Kōbe.

They were also quick to see her black hair, styled in a long French braid.

"Keiko-san…?" Kuninobu Yoshitoki hissed out from his position next to Shūya.

"Sure looks like her," Yamamoto Kazuhiko warned from Shōgo's left.

"Yeah, it does…but she's got her right hand behind her back," Shōgo added.

"Oh, fuck! That's not good, man!" Tadakatsu hissed out.

"What do you mean, Tadakatsu?!" Shūya demanded.

"They could'a used the Wand to bring Shōgo's girl back…and then _**brainwash**_ her into attacking us to kill us or our friends!" the baseball player warned.

The other boys paled in hearing that. "Good point," Shōgo agreed…

…and then he gaped as the figure off in the distance pulled her arm out from behind her to reveal the mace-like device with the glowing crystal at one end now in her hand. As the Shiroiwa boys all tensed on seeing THAT, she then wound up…and with an overhand baseball pitch that she couldn't have done back in her old body, sent the Genesis Wand of Parah twirling through the air in Shōgo's direction. He tossed the binoculars to Kazuhiko before he stood, holding his arm out. A couple seconds later, the Wand landed neatly in his hand…and then everyone tensed on hearing its powerful voice echo in their minds, **_Transfer of control of this unit from Inoue Keiko to Kawada Shōgo acknowledged._**

Shōgo blinked as he felt the Wand's power surge through him…and then he gazed out towards what he now knew with his heart and soul was the girl who was more precious to him than Life itself. "Is Keiko under any sort of mental control?" he demanded.

**_Negative, Controller. Your_**** surei'cha ****_and your former female classmates from Kōbe 2nd District Junior High School Class 3C are operating at proper function. Except for the fact that they, like you, are now Terran-form Avalonian bioroids and not pure-born Terrans._**

On hearing that, all the Shiroiwa boys relaxed themselves. "Stand down, Yoshio! It's Keiko-san! All of the girls from Shōgo's old class are here!" Takiguchi Yūichirō — he was the man who handled communications for Team Two — called out over his microphone back to the _Express_. "Check for any Niphentaxians on that ship!"

"Negative on any heretics on the sloop, Yūichirō-sama," his own would-be girlfriend Yokomichi Satoko called out from the life sensor station on the bridge. "There is one other Avalonian is aboard the sloop beyond Keiko-sama and her classmates."

"_**HEY, GUYS!**_"

All the boys looked over to see another girl run up to stand beside Keiko at the base of the hill. She was waiving a severed woman's head by the hair in her right hand and a bloody kama scythe in the other. Looking through the macro-binoculars, Kazuhiko blinked…and then he chuckled. "Uh-oh! That's the girl that was behind you when Keiko-san went down, Shōgo," Ogawa Sakura's boyfriend stated with a shake of the head; all of Shōgo's friends — out of respect for what he went through when he endured _The Program_ for the first time — did not say anything that might hurt the man by reminding him of what happened when Keiko had been struck down.

Shōgo snorted. "Hinase Minami," he advised. "Yeah, that'd be her."

"We better not introduce her to Mitsuko-chan," Tadakatsu warned.

The others jolted…and then they laughed before a scream of pure joy made them watch as Keiko ran up the hill straight for her boyfriend. Handing the Wand to Shūya, Shōgo moved to embrace her as she came up to him…and then his head snapped over thanks to a perfect right cross. "**_SHŌGO NO BAKA!_**" Keiko screamed out. "**_WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE KAMI MADE YOU ACTUALLY WANT TO GO THROUGH THE_**** PROGRAM ****_A_**** SECOND TIME****_?! AHO!_**"

She then collapsed into his arms as she began to sob. As Shōgo gazed down at her before he moved to hold her close, the other Shiroiwa boys could only smile with delight. "She loves him," Tadakatsu stated as he gave Kazuhiko a knowing look.

"Oh, yes. That she does," the latter agreed, a grin crossing his handsome face.

The others around them laughed save for Kazuo…who did feel a smile cross his face as the others from Shōgo's old class disembarked their ship to join them…

* * *

Tomobiki, near Tomobiki High School, an hour after lunch…

"Ah! Tariko-chan! When did you get back?!"

Moroboshi Tariko turned to wave at the small group of girls who were now approaching her from the direction of the town park close to Tomobiki High School. "Hey, guys!" she called back as they moved to gather around her. "Just now! Shinobu's gone off to her house to dump off her stuff before we'd go paint the town red! Anything happen while we were off to the boonies?" she asked as she waved them along with her.

The other girls laughed. "Did anything HAPPEN?!" Marubeya Momoe demanded with a snort before she shook her head. "Oh, nothing much…other than it turns out that your favourite manga series is actually REAL and the characters — at least the girls — have been living on the bioroid factory since Hensō's so-called 'most faithful' dragged them here so they could have beautiful sex-slaves." A roll of the eyes. "As usual."

Tariko stopped, her eyes widening. "_**WHAT?!**_"

The other girls gazed on her. "It's true, Tariko-chan," Gekasawa Kumiko warned as she gave Ataru's twin a knowing look. "_Battle Royale_ — at least the manga version of that story — is as real as you or me!" As Tariko's jaw dropped, the woman once voted the prettiest girl in Class 1-4 just after Mendō Shūtarō had parachuted into their lives for the first time at the start of the autumn term of their freshman year the previous September added, "Shocked the heck out of all of us! Especially Ataru-kun!" She then smirked as she winked at Tariko. "Would you believe a whole TONNE of those girls are now seriously crushing on him?!"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

Tariko moaned. "Oh, man! Just when you thought things would _calm down_ around here!"

The others laughed. "Well, you better brace yourself for some changes to the house, Tariko-chan," Momoe then warned as she grabbed Tariko by one hand and moved to guide her down the street. "You have to seriously SEE this to believe it!"

Tariko didn't resist as the girls headed off, gabbing away. As they turned to head down the street that passed to the east side of the Moroboshi property — Tariko herself had travelled to the Tomobiki-chūō JR station, located to the south of her current place of education, with her lover Miyake Shinobu after a long railroad trip from Fukuoka on Kyūshū; their other lover Hayashi Kanami was still in the mountains with her extended family as they continued to work away on perfecting their skills — the other girls moved to fill in Ataru's twin on the events in the last day or so. Listening to them speak about the Shiroiwa girls and what they had gone through — and also learning that the Shiroiwa _**boys**_ were also on their feet…though currently on the _Planet of Shadows_ all the way out in Delta Quadrant of all places! — over the last five months or so, Tariko could only shake her head as her mind ran through all the ugly possibilities arising from THIS delightful change in the lives of her and her siblings, not to mention everyone else in town.

_We'll be dealing with multiple cases of PTSD_, she mused to herself as her ears still recorded the words the others were saying. _Not to mention dealing with all the wonderful after-effects of what Sōma Mitsuko went through since that delightful 'man' she had to call a stepfather came into her life! Survivor's guilt in Nakagawa Noriko, the guilt of causing the whole lighthouse massacre inside Sakaki Yūko and Noda Satomi…and when the guys come here, we'll have to deal with what happened to Kiriyama Kazuo and Kawada Shōgo to boot, not to mention all the PTSD cases there!_ She shook her head. _And just to top off this wonderful shit sundae that just came down on OUR fuckin' laps, there's the fact that Inada Mizuho — who must be this mysterious '_**her**_' that all the magicals on Earth AND Nerio have been harping about for the last few months — is the current controller of the_ **Staff of Gihan** _of all things! Just fuckin'_ wonderful_…!_

"Tariko!"

She jolted, and then looked right to gaze at a wide-eyed Inu Chigaiko. "What?!"

"You zoned out there for a moment," the once-unknown member of Class 1-4 — courtesy of a magical curse once inflicted on the infamous "Red Cloak" years ago when he had been a student at Tomobiki High — stated as she gave Ataru's twin a worried look.

A sigh. "Sorry! I'm just worried about all the oh-so-delightful implications of having the _Battle Royale_ cast living with us right now!" Tariko admitted, which made the others nod in understanding. "All of Mitsuko-chan's problems ALONE…!"

More nods from the others; as they all were Terrans-turned-Avalonians themselves, they had been able to sense the emotional turmoil that burned in the heart of the woman once called "Hardcore" back in Shiroiwa. "What's even worse is this, Tariko-ya: Mitsuko-ya is one of the girls who's totally in love with your brother," Sŏ Yŏn'i added. As people focused on the North Korean from Ryanggang Province who had been literally transformed into a _gynoid_ of all things over a year before thanks to a rogue Zeiwanite sexdroid who had killed her master and once tried to unleash a rebellion amongst that planet's vast population of artificial intelligences, she added, "Not to mention Mizuho-ya, Satomi-ya and Hirono-ya, too!"

"Some of the others from that bunch also want to see if the wand fits the wizard, so to speak," Yŏn'i's bond-mate Inoue Tamako added as she gave Tariko a sympathetic look.

The other girls all giggled. Save for Inoue Tamako and Sŏ Yŏn'i — who had chosen their class' resident tōshi otaku, Mifune Hideyuki, as their shared boyfriend — as well as Miyake Shinobu and Fujinami Ryūnosuke, all the other girls of Class 2-4 had come to find the post-Okusei version of Moroboshi Ataru to be a VERY attractive man and had enjoyed some wonderful dates with him up to the point that Sebone "Ryofu Hōsen" Shikuko and her lover Noberu "Chinkyū Kōdai" Miyako had come into his life just before the Yaminokuni trip. It was understandable, of course; most of the boys in their class still lusted after Redet Hensō despite the revelations that had been dropped on their heads before the turn of the New Year at the cathedral outside Uru's capital city of Onishuto by She Who Speaks to Dragons. Mendō Shūtarō — who had been their peer group's most popular man thanks to his family wealth, his good looks and his polite manners — had been engaged to Mizunokōji Asuka shortly after the Moroboshi siblings had liberated the Avalonians…and now, with Asuka's bonding to Mendō's sister Ryōko some weeks before, was being actively pursued by Wakatsuki Anna. The girls in Class 2-4 who once crushed on the scion of Japan's wealthiest family wouldn't begrudge Anna that sort of chance; she was just too darn likeable to be jealous of no matter how much people tried otherwise. Also, the core members of Lum's Stormtroopers all had girlfriends of their own, four wards of Tariko's globe-trotting archaeologist uncle Komeru — who had once been the student of Hayashi Kanami's maternal great-grandfather Indiana Jones — who currently were sophomores at the Butsumetsu Girl's Academy at the southern end of town.

"Damn!" Tariko breathed out before she gazed on her classmates. "Has anyone called Shikuko-chan or Miyako-chan to tell them what's happening?"

"I don't know," Momoe answered. "Then again, it's been happening too fast. Ataru-kun only just found out about them yesterday morning when _Mōri Mototsuku_ of all people tried to attack him for something Negako-san ultimately instigated last year."

Tariko looked nonplussed for a moment before nodding. "Oh, _him_! He was the guy who always kept hitting on you girls back in middle school!" She blinked. "Something Onē-san did? What the hell did Onē-san do to the jerk, anyway?!"

"He tried to kill you guys," Kumiko explained. "You may not remember it, but Ataru-kun's delightful 'other half' remembered it. Negako-san let him have it with the Heart-Blast Touch and a few other things back when he tried to kill you all near the end of middle school early last year." A smirk. "When he came by yesterday morning to attack your brother, Mizuho-chan charged down here with the Staff to bash him and his friends around a bit. And when Mōri tried to hit Ataru-kun — as Cyborg! — with a metal _tonfā_ of all things, Hirono-chan beamed down from the factory and shot his arm off with a _**Lawgiver**_!" As Tariko gaped at her — all the others knew that, despite what had happened to them during the "Okusei trip" (as the Moroboshi siblings called their three-month absence from Tomobiki at the start of the year), Ataru and his twin would never wish ill on anyone…though there were those who always did do their best to push their luck with them such as Ogin Haneko; this was the reason Ataru never addressed the Sanrinbō senior student by given name (as he always did with other girls he knew) — the other girl waved her hands peacefully. "Mizuho-chan put him back together before sending him and his idiots for a swim in Tōkyō Bay."

Tariko took that in before she sighed. "Oh, great…atop multiple cases of PTSD, survivor's guilt, guilt for causing the shit in the lighthouse and all of Mitsuko-chan's issues, we have all of Mizuho-chan's issues AND the Staff atop that…!"

"They seem pretty okay to me," Obinata Hiromi — she was popularly nicknamed "Hiromi the First" to differentiate her from Tariko's own sister Hiromi — added. "Yeah, they're still in pain over what they went through on that island, but they want to press on with their lives and give the Greater East Asia Republic the finger for screwing around with them — and all the others who had to play that sick 'game' — like it did."

"Oh! That's right! You don't know this!" Hiromi's best friend and now bond-mate Yamagata Masako — both of them had been voted as two of the five prettiest girls in their old freshman class back in September — declared. "Would you believe that Mitsuko-chan's dad tried to rescue his old homeroom class from _The Program_?!"

Tariko gaped. "You're kidding!"

"It's true, Tariko-chan," Tsuruya Rumiko — their class' only true lesbian before the others had become Avalonians and had discovered the joys of being bisexual — noted. "That's the reason he was forced to leave Mitsuko-chan behind when she was a kid. The idiots in this — NADA, they called it? — were out to kill him for trying to prevent his girls from being forced to perform their 'solemn civic duty!'" Everyone could hear the tsunami of scorn in her voice on saying _that_ phrase. "They killed him a year after he was forced to run off. Mitsuko-chan never knew a thing about it until she came here."

A whistle. "No shit…!"

"Even worse, Mitsuko-chan's stupid mother actually called in the NADA on him!" Arakida Yui — who had been the first girl to date Ataru after he returned to Earth in the wake of his divorcing Hensō and his brief but intensive relationship with Kyech — added.

Tariko winced. "Damn! Bet she wishes now that she had held off on killing the bitch when she got the Yakuza's help in getting rid of her stepdad…wha-…?!"

Everyone blinked…and then they turned to look.

Silence fell as they took in what was before them, many of their mouths open as they absorbed what was now being planted on the very street ahead of them.

After a moment, Tariko then sighed. "That's…unique."

"It's…eye-catching," Rumiko added.

"Tariko-chan, your mom's going to go bat-shit crazy when she sees _that_!" Momoe mused.

Ataru's twin blinked. Their parents were enjoying a week's vacation at the Tsubame Onsen near Niigata. When they got back home on Sunday…

She then crossed her arms as she gave a nod of approval. "Okay! We're keeping it!"

The others gaped at her, and then they all laughed…

* * *

Meanwhile, on the inside surface of a Dyson sphere 40,000 light-years from Earth…

A deep bow. "Shiroiwa Junior High School, Class 3B for the 2000-2001 school year. I'm the boys' _iinchō_ for that class. Motobuchi Kyōichi. Yoroshiku."

A deep bow in return. "Kōbe 2nd District Junior High School, Class 3C for the 1999-2000 school year. Girls' _iinchō_, Shimamura Kimie. Yoroshiku."

Once that was done, Kimie and Kyōichi moved to introduce their respective classmates and — for the Shiroiwa boys — their current Niphentaxian companions. For the just-arrived Kōbe girls — all of whom endured the Awakening shortly after they had dealt with their former captors aboard their fast sloop a couple hours before — they were quick to sense the artificial nature of the bodies their hosts' current companions now possessed. On sensing the question many of them wanted to ask about Fujino Shigeki — who was currently being comforted by Tsukioka Shō; seeing that, the Kōbe girls thought that the sight of the tall and muscular Shō doting over his effeminate boyfriend was just as cute as the dickens — and his friends, Shōgo took a deep breath before lighting up a cigarette; everyone was standing close to the _Shiroiwa Express_.

"We're dealing with a major biohazard situation here," he said as he looked at each of his ex-classmates, that making all of them tense; dealing with issues like biological warfare defence was part of the syllabus of their civic duties classes in middle school back home. "We learned this sort of stuff in our first year…and I got a crash course on dealing with how to shield others from that sort of stuff thanks to my dad when I worked at the clinic during that influenza outbreak that hit Kōbe in '97." He gazed sympathetically at the woman who had been the president of the _Battle Royale_ fan club Shigeru was a part of — as well as being his maternal cousin — Takeshi Mai; the Kōbe girls knew her by her Niphentaxian birth name "Anma dai-Biitan." "It's basically the outer space version of Ebola…and just as nasty. Mai-chan and her friends had to get themselves rebuilt as cyborgs when they caught the bug just before they flew out here to get their hands on the Genesis Wand." He held up the mace-like device Keiko had passed onto him earlier.

"Damn…!" Hinase Minami hissed out. "Did it cure them?"

A shake of the head. "It slowed it down quite a bit, but didn't stop it cold," Shōgo stated. "Hifuto — that's what this bug's called — attacks the muscle tissue and skeleton first before it goes after the vital organs. By stripping them down to just their brains, the attached spinal column, the heart and the other major organs to help keep them alive — plus the necessary support systems to allow them to operate with something akin to normalcy — they survived the worst of it. But we'd be a lot more comfortable having them become like us with this thing's help." He tapped the Wand.

The Kōbe girls nodded. "We do have enough un-templated bodies in one of the storage bays of our ship, Onii-san," Tomoe — who was currently in the arms of Ieyoshi Chikako — stated. "As you might know, there was a repository of un-templated bodies in a large storage site outside Lumukyō, set aside to allow people to create their own servants without the need to travel to Phentax Twelve." She gazed on Mai. "When your people came to take the bodies necessary to restore your companions to life, it was noticed by Heikiko and the other Guardians. That's the reason they came after you."

Yoshitoki's would-be girlfriend blinked before she sighed. "No doubt, the start of the madness that always seizes Hifuto victims at the onset of infection clouded our judgement when we swept in to get the replacement bodies for Yoshitoki-sama and his friends," she mused as her dark grey eyes teared as she remembered the agonies she had endured before being transformed into a cyborg. Immediately, Shūya's best friend moved to comfort, which made the pretty green-haired girl blush. "That was understandable. After the Goddess' Beloved Darling, his siblings, the great Dragonspeaker of Noukiios who defends us all from They Who Must Never Be Named and their friends from Noukiios and Yehisril delivered Lum-sama's Vengeance on us for allowing her life to be destroyed six years ago after Hensō-sama was created and that awful curse unleashed by the Old Lady of the Oak Forest befell them and their friends, the civil war that broke out afterward was…vicious. We didn't notice it until it was too late. Fortunately, a kind cybernetics specialist from Zeiwan was able to assist us in staying alive long enough to fulfil the mission Mizuho-sama gave my cousin." She gazed fondly on Shigeki when she said that.

The Kōbe girls all stared askance at her, though many of them were quick to note that their hosts from Shiroiwa hadn't blinked on hearing Mai's flowery words. "WMDs were unleashed all over the place for a couple weeks after the Liberation occurred, minna," Yoshio added as he allowed his girlfriend Kusaka Tsuzumi to hug him from one side. "Some tactical nuclear weapons hitting those military installations which weren't destroyed by the Noukiites and Yehisrites when they attacked the system, but the rest…"

"Biological and chemical warfare," Keiko concluded as she leaned against Shōgo.

"Fuck…!" Kikuchi Emiko breathed out.

The others bowed their heads for a moment of silence. Even if the Niphentaxians had been warped badly by their religious leaders into becoming a deadly threat to the rest of Earth's part of the galaxy, the _Program_ players understood well what sort of horror could be unleashed by weapons of mass destruction. The Greater East Asia Republic had, after all, risen in the wake of the devastation of both Tōkyō and Kyōto in the summer of 1945 thanks to nuclear-tipped V-2s launched from Nazi U-boats in vengeance over the destruction of Berlin by the Soviets. The Soviet Union had allied with the Japanese in mid-1944 in the wake of the Western powers' "betrayal" of their Eurasian ally when Adolf Hitler — who had endured a chemical warfare attack on his home unit, the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, just a month before the Armistice in 1918 — renounced the alliance between Germany and Japan in response to the biological warfare attack unleashed on America in Operation: Fū-go thanks to Unit 731. The fact that many people in the Republic at the time the Shiroiwa boys and the Kōbe girls lived had such wide varieties of hair and eye colour was thanks to the radiation residue from those very attacks; fortunately — thanks to the willing help of the Chinese and Koreans to rebuild wrecked cities in the wake of the Greater East Asia War's end — traditional Japanese xenophobia became passé…when it came to fellow Orientals (as Amélie de Beauharnais could explain to anyone who asked).

"Well, that's not our problem," Shōgo stated as he finished his cigarette and moved to stamp out the butt on the ground. "Right now, we need to get our friends here into bodies that aren't infected with Hifuto." He indicated the bright sun in the sky above their location. "When that's done, I'd want to beam their old bodies into that sun overhead to ensure there's no potential spread of infection." As the others nodded — all the Kōbe girls now knew of Shōgo's late father and what he did — in understanding, he then sighed. "Outside of that, the only thing left to do is go to Earth."

"How long would such a trip take us on our ship, Tomoe-chan?" Kimie asked.

"About five weeks, Onē-san," Tomoe answered.

"Roughly the same for our ship as well," Yoshio added.

"It would be best to travel on one ship," Kazuo cut in. "Our knowledge of Niphentaxian technology has improved quite a bit thanks to our friends' current infirmary forcing us to learn about it in real-time, but none of us feel confident enough to pilot our vessel to Earth on our own. Atop that, if there are other Guardians out there…"

The others grimly nodded. "We could also send a dream-flash to Mizuho-chan and the other girls, telling them what's happened," Shinji added.

"That's true," Shūya noted. "When I talked to Yukie earlier in the Dreamscape, I did get the sense that they made contact with the Moroboshi siblings."

"And they do have many ships they seized from the Army of Lum," Mai added. "Though they would be restricted to speeds below galactic escape velocity. If so…"

"We're looking at least a month's travel to Earth no matter what," Yoshio finished. "Factoring in the use of that wormhole that will take us from this galactic sector back to the local cluster close to Earth."

A nod. "Hai."

"Let's take care of Mai-san and her friends first," Keiko proposed before she gazed on the Genesis Wand in Shōgo's free hand. "How soon can that be done?"

_**I have already started the templation process for all of your**_** surei'cha****_'s companions from Phentax Two, Inoue Keiko_**, the ancient Sagussan terraforming device reported. _**Your**_** surei'cha ****_and his companions from Shiroiwa Junior High School did desire that their companions be transformed into Terran-form Avalonians as soon as possible and practicable. The process — even for Geran dai-Farosh — will be finished in 58.4 minutes._**

"Um…there's no need to call us by our Niphentaxian names anymore," Shigeki stated.

**_As you desire, Fujino Shigeki._**

The others all laughed…

* * *

Tomobiki, the town Ginza, two hours after lunch…

"'**_KIMONO?!_**'"

Ataru blinked on hearing that surprised shout from several of the girls he was currently escorting towards a traditional clothier near Esmeralda's, and then he gazed wide-eyed at the Shiroiwa girls. "Don't tell me that you don't wear _kimonos_ back in your universe," he moaned out as he gave Inada Mizuho's hand a warm squeeze.

The other escorts for the shopping trip were also gaping in shock at what they just learned. "Gods! First rāmen, now kimonos!" Shiina Sakurako moaned out. "What type of warped, sick, deprived place do you girls actually come from, for Heaven's sake?!"

Noda Satomi — holding Ataru's other hand — sighed. "Kimonos are just used for the traditional ceremonies such as honouring the Shōwa Emperor's birthday, Sakurako-sempai. Because they're hand-made, they're so damned expensive, only rich folks like Kazuo-kun and Toshinori-kun can afford them. Most people in the Republic have _**never**_ worn them."

"What about wearing yukata?" Luna Lovegood then asked.

The Shiroiwa girls all looked confused. "What's that?" Sōma Mitsuko wondered.

Ataru groaned. "Okay! That tears it! If the chance ever comes, we'll take the ships Tsukihana-kun and Ayami-chan built and turn the whole of your so-called 'republic' into a nice imitation of the surface of the Moon!" he snarled before he gazed wide-eyed at Satomi, and then turned to stare at Mizuho. "You don't even know what a _yukata_ is?!"

Both girls rapidly shook their heads as a familiar man's voice then stated, "I can't believe that myself, Moroboshi." Everyone Ataru was escorting then perked before they looked over to see who was now approaching them. "I'm more than sure Hiromi-san would gladly agree with your idea the instant she learns of our new friends."

He turned…and then nodded as Mendō Shūtarō came up, accompanied by a pair of Kuromegane bodyguards. "Oi, Mendō! Just got back from the octopus farm in Akashi?"

"Hai! I apologise for not coming right away when Kumiko-san and Megane-san put out the alert concerning your family's new houseguests," the scion of Japan's richest family stated with a polite bow of the head towards Nakagawa Noriko. "Ladies, welcome to Tomobiki. And despite the more than obvious reason — in my eyes — that you were all brought here, I will say that it is a wonderful thing that you are all alive and well. While I was not as familiar with Takami-sensei's work before yesterday as Moroboshi here is, I did spend last night reading the whole manga series to properly apprise myself of what happened to you before you were pulled into our dimension by Mizuho-san's staff. I also hope the others who were forced through that sick 'reality show' over the years will soon be brought here to live their lives in peace."

"That is our ultimate intention, Shūtarō-sempai," Noriko declared before she grinned. "Besides — unless there's something our 'wise leaders' have hidden from us — how on Earth will they know my classmates and the other _Program_ players will be restored to life? No one in our universe has starships like the _Haida_ or the _Yamato_ at their beck and call."

"True. Still, as the people of the West say, Noriko-san, 'Living well is the best revenge of all,'" Mendō stated before blinking as Kitano Yukiko and Kusaka Yumiko walked over to slip their arms around his. "L-l-ladies…!" he then sputtered out.

Both of them playfully kissed his cheeks. "Much that we know you have one of our pure-born sisters as your current girlfriend, we ALSO know that your other 'angels' covet you in a _**very**_ intimate manner, Shūtarō-sempai," the tall, grey-haired, blue-eyed Yumiko noted as Mendō's cheeks turned a very vibrant shade of cherry.

"Oh, indeed, sister! We must have a wonderful orgy sometime soon!"

Mendō awked. "Mutsumi-san…!"

Ataru roared with laughter. "Nice one, Mutsumi-san!"

Everyone turned as two women came up to them, both dressed casually and holding hands. "Greetings, dear sisters," Mizuho stated with a polite nod of her head at Horikawa Mutsumi and her bond-mate Inaba Ayumu, two of the elder members of Shūtarō's Angels. "And I happily agree with your own feelings. While my heart is firmly locked on the man whose hand I'm now holding, one must always acknowledge the many virtues of the gallant fellow who just joined us at this time."

As Mendō gaped in disbelief and shock on hearing such a complement being delivered to him by the would-be Zoroastrian warrior-priestess, all the other Shiroiwa girls laughed with delight. "And the good taste of our sisters who've lived here on Earth and interacted with him as well," Noriko added with a wink as her eyes twinkled with amusement.

Mendō began to sputter in embarrassment on hearing that from the _ashi'cha_ of the Shiroiwa girls. As all the girls who had been escorting their new friends giggled in delight on seeing that, Mutsumi then pointed to the nearby kimono shop. "Since it's obvious that we need to make our newly-discovered sisters as beautiful as they can be, let's not tardy then!" the bespectacled third-year student at the Butsumetsu Girl's Academy with the caramel eyes and the umber-brown hair partially tied off at the back of her head to give her a bobcut look stated as she beckoned them to follow.

The others cheered as they headed off…

* * *

In an alley nearby…

As a slender tomboy with shaggy, short-cut crimson hair and chestnut-brown eyes — also possessing metal antennae-like devices affixed to her temples above her ears — shuddered on seeing the man who had hidden her precious master somewhere where none of the creations of Shibamata Kyōsuke could find him so they could get their proper "rewards" for being his beloved servants and lovers.

"Moroboshi Ataru-sama…" Karin whimpered as she squeezed her legs together…

* * *

"Ataru…"

Ataru smirked as he glanced at Tatsumiya Mana. "Sensed her, didn't you?"

"One of Shibamata's creations," the demon hunter from Mahora advised as the Shiroiwa girls were greeted by the owner of Kimono Tansuya before they were waved inside to be measured up and prepared. "The tomboy of the three who were first assigned to Yōichi."

"You know her name?" he whispered.

She gaped in shock. "And you _don't_?!" Mana then teased.

A chuckle. "I haven't dealt with her as much as I did Raika-chan, Sempai," he admitted as he gave Mana a weak smile. "Yōichi never told me their names; by the time I learned what was going on with him, he wanted nothing further to do with them anymore and just needed to get out of his grandfather's reach so he could enjoy a peaceful relationship with Mimiko-san. Even if she dated him originally as a way to gain vengeance for her late grandfather because he and Yōichi's stupid grandfather were rivals, I could tell she really had fallen hard for the guy." Ataru then briefly glanced at the alley where the target of their attention currently was. "She needs help…" He then hummed as he gazed into the kimono shop for a moment before he smirked. "Perfect."

Mana blinked. "Eh?"

He winked at her before calling out, "Yūko-chan!"

Sakaki Yūko tensed on hearing his voice, and then she walked over to join them by the main door of the shop. "What is it, Ataru-kun?" the diminutive and slender girl with the shaggy brown hair and the glittering blue eyes then asked.

He leaned close to her. "I seriously need your help," he stated.

She blinked in surprise as Mana smirked…

* * *

Nearby…

"Goshujin-sama…"

Karin shuddered as she leaned against one of the alley's walls.

"Self-destruct…no…"

As her eyes teared, she turned to look towards Kimono Tansuya…

…and then gaped on seeing a pretty girl in a pair of slacks and a V-neck sweater over a blouse walk over to her, a polite smile on her face and curiosity in her eyes. She then stopped about a couple metres away from Karin, gazing at her before her eyes then twinkled. "Are all of Shibamata-hakase's girls as pretty as you?" she asked.

Karin jerked on hearing that…and then she paused as the girl's words sank into her mind before she felt herself slightly relax. No doubt, Ataru had sent this girl over to her; no matter how hard she and her sister gynoids tried — even Raika! — they just couldn't get the drop on him. Even worse, Ataru always treated them quite politely…even if he wouldn't do anything to reveal where he had hidden Shibamata Yōichi. While part of Karin wanted to do everything to make Ataru reveal her master's location, the other part of her found herself liking him very much since he obviously did care for Yōichi.

"I'd like to think so," she then admitted before bowing her head as her eyes teared. "If only Goshujin-sama could see that…"

"I'm sure he always did," the other girl stated.

"Then why isn't he here?!" Karin then pleaded. "I was built for him…!"

A nod. "Hai, you were. And deep down, I'm sure Yōichi-sempai did appreciate his grandfather doing that for him." The girl then sighed. "But Yōichi-sempai _**didn't**_ appreciate having his _**life**_ threatened by you girls being forced to attempt to _**self-destruct**_ on him — with the potential threat of collateral damage and innocent casualties if that sort of thing happened — if he didn't have frequent sex with you and all your sisters." A sigh. "Much that boys do like having sex with girls — or with other boys if they're gay like one of my classmates — having it every _**four hours**_ does seem way too much. Even for my friend Mitsuko."

Karin jolted on hearing that as she felt the rabbit system deep within her move to push her away from this strange woman, rebelling at the very concept of NOT being properly rewarded by her beloved Goshujin-sama for being loyal to him.

To NOT be rewarded that way…!

* * *

Gazing at this poor girl — and yes, she was a _**girl**_ and not just a very complex machine — Yūko wanted to scream her heart out at the level of suffering she was going through right now. That someone so utterly beautiful in body and so innocent in soul could be FORCED into being a mere _**sex machine**_ for someone else — with utterly NO escape for her OR the man she was built to have sex with at all! — was just totally perverted in her eyes; like the other Shiroiwa girls, she had long learned what many Niphentaxians had used Avalonians for, never mind what she had learned about Sōma Mitsuko over the last five months. That this same someone — not to mention others just like her — was now literally TRAPPED in such a painful existence made Yūko want to get Mitsuko's kama and find the monster that built this poor girl and her sisters, then turn HIM into a eunuch for his disgusting behaviour when it came to his suffering grandson.

And all those created by such an evil creature, of course…

Suddenly, the girl gasped in shock as a keen moan escaped her. Yūko blinked before her empathy locked in on Ataru — _How in God's name is he_ invisible_?!_ she then wondered — as the girl began to shudder, her cry turning orgasmic as her hands shot down to her crotch; only THEN did Yūko notice that she had a thigh-length false leather skirt with NO PANTIES underneath it! Before she could think it through — much less wipe the small trickle of blood leaking from one of her nostrils — the other girl jolted before she seemed to relax, relieved pants escaping her.

«That should keep her calm for a bit,» Ataru's voice then echoed in Yūko's mind.

Yūko perked. «What did you do, Ataru-kun?!»

«Pushed enough tantric ki into Karin-chan — that's her name, by the way — to have her go through an orgasm and abort that rabbit program inside her from making her internal fuel cells go up like a damned bomb,» he replied; they had forged a temporary psi-bond before Yūko had come into the alley to look in on the panting gynoid that had caught Ataru's attention minutes before. «Mizuho's coming to take her up to Tower #98 to get the new body made for her. Why don't you go with her to keep her company?»

Yūko nodded. "Hai!"

Karin perked on hearing that. "Who are you talking to…?"

"Someone who does care for you even if his friendship to your master has caused you and your sisters such grief and pain over the last two months, Lady Karin."

Karin's head snapped over as a blinding flash caused her optical circuits to overload…

* * *

The Avalon bioroid factory, Tower #98…

…and then she found herself inside a very advanced and rather large, circular laboratory of some sort.

"Hey!" Karin yelped…

…and then she blinked on feeling a slender hand grasp hers. "It's alright, Karin-san," the girl who had confronted her in the alley a minute before said as Karin felt a wave of peace and reassurance flood her body from that touch. As the taller gynoid then felt herself relax thanks to that physical contact, the girl waved to herself. "Oh, we haven't been properly introduced. I'm Sakaki Yūko. Yoroshiku." A bow of the head.

Karin bowed her head in return. "Yoroshiku, Yūko-san. I'm Karin." She then chuckled as she scratched the back of her head. "You must be an Avalonian, then."

"Terran-turned; I was actually born in Shikoku. In my universe, that is," Yūko said as she walked Karin over to sit at a nearby sofa. Sitting down beside her, she then took both of Karin's hands in her own. "So you're a companion gynoid, right?"

A nod…before Karin gaped on noting the OTHER girl with the strange yet very highly technological staff-like device in her hand. "Who…?"

Yūko giggled as she introduced both Mizuho and the Staff of Gihan. The would-be Zoroastrian warrior-priestess then moved to fire some sort of energy beam into one of the tubular chambers in this laboratory. Chambers which currently held a white-skinned female humanoid form that reminded Karin of images of herself and her own sisters before their creator had moulded their outer epidermal tissue into their final form. As the bolt of energy began to slowly transform the body within the tube — _A gestation tube for an Avalonian bioroid_, she then realised — into something that was truly human, Karin turned to gaze on Yūko. "Um…what's Mizuho-san doing with that unit there, Yūko-san?" she asked.

A giggle. "She's making your new body for you, Karin-san."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

"**_YOU CAN'T DO THAT!_**"

Yūko's hands squeezed hard on Karin's to keep her in place; the gynoid looked like she was about to bolt and run away. "Why not?!"

"Because I was built for Goshujin-sama…and ONLY for Goshujin-sama!" Karin wailed as she tried to pull away from the other girl's grasp. Not too hard, of course; Yūko-san was being nice and kind to her…and Karin knew that her master and his friend would definitely NOT like it if she hurt this person. "I can't become a bioroid!"

"Why not?" Yūko asked.

"**_BECAUSE I CAN'T!_**"

**_Your core, hard-wired programming does not allow you to consider otherwise, Shibamata Karin. That was deliberately installed within you on your initial construction to ensure that you cannot consider any other mode of life than what you are now._**

Karin blinked, and then she found herself gazing wide-eyed at the tall device in Mizuho's hand. "You're SENTIENT?!" the crimson-haired gynoid demanded.

**_Of course I am, Shibamata Karin. As Sakaki Yūko just stated, I am designated the "Staff of Gihan." I am a focusing device to channel the Eternal Energy of the Te'a — the Power of Creation Itself — for whatever use my controller desires. Upon the encounter between Moroboshi Ataru and your sister gynoid Minagawa Raika earlier this morning, my controller asked me to do a detailed scan of her core programming to ascertain why all of you were constructed as you were._**

"In other words, that _**man**_…" — Karin winced on sensing the tidal wave of scorn escaping Yūko on her saying that word — "…wanted to ensure there could be no way that poor Yōichi-sempai could try to have a life of his own choosing!"

"_**I WAS BUILT TO LOVE HIM!**_" Karin screamed out.

"Nay, Lady Karin. You were built to ENSLAVE Lord Yōichi."

A stunned silence fell as Karin gaped wide-eyed at Mizuho. "No…!"

The would-be warrior-priestess sighed. "Beautiful Karin, please try not to allow that disgusting 'rabbit system' inside you to influence your thoughts," she stated as she let go of the Staff and walked over to place a comforting hand on the shuddering gynoid's shoulder. Karin was quick to see that the ancient Sagussan weapon was now floating a half-metre off the deck as it continued to mould the bioroid into what was now becoming a clearly obvious double of Karin herself. "You are gifted with great intelligence and a great heart, not to mention the same type of sentience and self-awareness any of us possess." She pointed to her own heart in emphasis. "But in your case, it was totally chained down by your mad creator into forcing an innocent young man into doing things he was not truly physically or emotionally prepared for. What is worse, there was no escape for him OR YOU once you were made to be his servant. And that eventually made Master Yōichi want to do everything in his power to get away from all of you as soon as possible!"

Karin physically jerked on hearing that…and then she seemed to deflate as her eyes teared up. "Then I must self-destruct…" she quietly declared…before her head snapped around after Yūko slapped her hard across the cheek. "Wha-…?"

"**_KARIN NO BAKA!_**" Yūko screamed out. "**_HOW COULD YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT?! HOW CAN YOU JUST THROW YOUR WHOLE_**** LIFE ****_AWAY LIKE THAT?!_**"

As Karin stared wide-eyed at the crying girl, Mizuho took a deep breath. "It appears she and those of her sisters who were very close to Master Yōichi will fight this no matter what we try to do to make them see the truth of this insane debacle their perverted creator forced on them all," she declared as she gave the gynoid before her a sympathetic look. "Much that I would prefer not to ask this of you, friend Yūko, but can you mind-meld with her?"

Yūko gazed on her classmate. "Mizuho…?"

"Show her what happened on Oki-shima," Mizuho stated. "Staff, can you freeze Karin's self-destruct functions and that accursed rabbit system that's chained her soul down?"

**_Already done, Controller. Sakaki Yūko will still be able to mind-meld with Shibamata Karin without any difficulties. Templation of Shibamata Karin's replacement body will be complete in 22.7 minutes_**, the Staff replied as its focusing crystal pulsed.

Hearing that, Yūko took a deep breath as she reached over to touch the side of Karin's face, her mind reaching in to sense out the gynoid's neural pathways to link directly into the core of her brain deep inside her head. As that link was made, Yūko closed her eyes as she whispered the mantra Etō Megumi had taught them all when the Shiroiwa girls began to experiment with their new bodies' considerable psionic powers.

"My mind to your mind…my thoughts to your thoughts…my soul to your soul…"

Karin blinked in confusion…and then her eyes went wide as images slammed into her at an astounding speed from a place she couldn't properly identify…

* * *

_DEMON BOY! THE DEMON BOY IS FREE! _

_Not me…! _

_Demon…Demon Boy…NOT MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE…!_

The gynoid's eyes teared up as a horrid realisation slammed into her.

_Sakaki…Yūko…?! _

_No… _

_It can't be…! _

_Goshujin-sama's manga…_Battle Royale_…! _

_The one that always made Goshujin-sama cry…_

Instantly, Yūko's mind locked on that as her blue eyes went wide in shock on realising that Moroboshi Ataru wasn't the ONLY man who had cried on reading _Battle Royale_…

* * *

Suddenly, an image flashed deep in Karin's mind.

What was…?

A bedroom in the Moroboshi home?

How…?

_"…won't you let us read that, Oji-chan?" _

_"It's a very sad story, Arami-chan. A sad story about people not that much younger than your parents and me facing something they shouldn't…"_

Karin blinked as she realised that in this particular memory that made Yūko held onto with fondness, the latter — no doubt, with the help of Mizuho and the Staff of Gihan — had been spying on Ataru and his nieces in his bedroom one day a couple weeks ago.

_"Oji-sama, we watched our whole_ country _collapse around us…"_

A chuckle. _"Kanami-chan, you may have been over fifty when you passed away back in the Third Century, but you're physically_ six _now! The same age as Arami-chan and Yayoi-chan are! Your parents would kill me if I ever showed that manga to you!"_

Having seen Shibamata Yōichi's copies of _Battle Royale_, Karin knew how right Ataru was in keeping that manga series with its bloody graphic pictures of innocent teenagers — all not much younger than either Ataru or Yōichi — being forced to kill their friends and classmates or be killed by them away from the children…

_"Can we ever read it, Oji-chan?" _

_"When you're a lot older, Yayoi-chan…a lot older…"_

* * *

Images then flashed deep inside Karin's mind as the landscape of a small, beautiful island in the Inland Sea appeared, viewed from the top of a lighthouse…

_Wait… _

_Is this…? _

_Oki-shima! _

_The place where… _

_Hai, Karin-san. The place where I died…_

A handsome man — almost as handsome as Shibamata Yōichi or Moroboshi Ataru; of course, to Karin, NO ONE could be as handsome as her own beloved Goshujin-sama! — then appeared before her, dressed in a school gakuran with bandages wrapped around his upper abdomen, dirt all over the place and cuts on his face…

…and a _**metal collar**_ wrapped around his neck!

_"Yūko! Don't shoot! Tell me what happened! YŪKO! WHAT HAPPENED DOWN THERE?!" _

_You…YOU happened! YOU!_

The recoil of an Uzi then forced the shooter over the guard rail…

…and a hand saved her from the embrace of Heaven.

_I saw… _

_Shūya…Tatsumichi…they were…he was… _

_I-I-I saw Shūya… _

_I saw Shūya _crying_…!_

At that moment, a horrid realisation had slammed into Yūko's soul.

With it came a tsunami of guilt…

…and a sad acceptance within the tortured girl's heart.

Five of her friends — who had gladly watched out for her when they found her close to the lighthouse, dazed, delirious and frightened beyond belief — were _**dead**_ because of her fears…

…and she had to answer for that.

It was the only proper response to such an action.

The only one…

_They knew…they __**knew**__ what a scaredy-cat I was…but they didn't care! _

_My friends, Shūya… _

_"Yūko, don't…!" _

_I've got to…they were my friends…and I lit the fuse…_

Karin gasped on seeing the top of the Oki-shima lighthouse fall away from Yūko…

She saw Nanahara Shūya scream out in agony…

_"No! You could have lived! _**YOU COULD HAVE LIVED!**_"_

* * *

…and then a bright light embraced her before Yūko found herself inside a tube.

A tube inside something that seemed to come straight out of a horrible science fiction movie.

Was she being used as some sort of TEST SUBJECT?!

How on Earth did she survive falling off the top of the lighthouse on Oki-shima?!

Where was she?!

Why…?

What had she done to anger God so much that she was being put her through _this_?!

_"_**DISOBEDIENT ROBOT! GIVE THAT BACK!**_"_

Inside the tube that held her new Avalonian body that had just been infused with her soul a minute before, Yūko watched as Inada Mizuho — truly the strangest girl of the whole class given her wild role playing game-based fantasies and her total inability to live in the real world — seized a tall magical wand with a glowing jewel the size of Yūko's own head at one end…then, with a blast of magic-like energy from the staff's jewel, killed an obviously evil, alien man who was threatening her…

There was a boy — an alien boy, but he seemed so nice to Yūko — there, too…

And outside the tower that had given the Shiroiwa girls new life…

…an epic battle to free a whole _**race**_ from slavery was being waged.

In the middle of the fighting…

…a creature even more nightmarish than Yūko thought Shūya had been.

The Cyborg.

The modern, Terminator-like image of the Sagussan GOD OF DEATH Himself, they would quickly learn thanks to the weapon Mizuho had just seized.

And since they had just escaped learning what lay beyond the Veil of the Te'a…

…their reaction to such a being's presence was…quite understandable.

_"_**NO! MIZUHO-CHAN, PLEASE! KEEP THAT THING AWAY! KEEP IT AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY…!**_"_

Mizuho — who herself was still trying to understand what had just happened to them all; for her, it was much worse as the weapon in her hand was feeding her information at the speed of thought — had, thanks to her love and concern for her schoolmates, gladly done just that. Much to the relief of all Mizuho's and Yūko's classmates, the creature — who actually could transform himself into a pretty normal-looking man about their age with the use of some strange and cold magical fire — politely acquiesced to the would-be warrior-priestess' demands, vowing to leave them be…

_Is he a demon…what_ IS _he…?_

The Staff of Gihan — a weapon _**seventeen thousand years old**_ made on a now-dead planet over _**thirty-three thousand**_ light-years from Earth — soon gave them the answer.

Moroboshi Ataru.

To the Niphentaxians — the race their new friend Geran hailed from — he was the "great evil" in a "church" whose doctrine seemed to rise right out of slapstick comedy…

…if the total military, technological and industrial power of the Union of Phentax Two didn't make them one of the most dangerous races in the galaxy.

Which demanded a GREATER level of power to see it crushed…

…and which Ataru — along with his sisters Negako, Tariko and Hiromi — had found in warriors and cosmic _**dragons**_ of all things from worlds named Noukiios and Yehisril.

And they were now fighting to free a race of _**bioroids**_ from slavery.

The Avalonians.

A race that the Shiroiwa girls had been made a part of thanks to Geran dai-Farosh.

As twenty-one dazed and wide-eyed girls watched something that made the space battles in the _Star Wars_ films look _**tame**_ in comparison, they learned something else. Something they — not even Etō Megumi, who was the resident Trekker in their group — could **_never_** have imagined happen to them. Not even after they were forced into the cauldron of _The Program_…

_Eh?! I'm a_ fictional character _here?! _

_Yet… _

_God saved me! _

_No! Geran-kun saved me! _

_No! No! NO! God HELPED Geran-kun save us! _

_He saved us all…! _

_We're alive! _

_We're_ ALIVE_!_

As everyone finally accepted the incredible truth of what just happened to them all, Mizuho used the Staff of Gihan to send Geran back to his homeworld with a vital mission. A mission that would ensure all the others from Shiroiwa Junior High School Class 3B from the 2000-2001 school year — whose souls had been drawn across the dimensional veil and ahead almost ten years in time to be inserted into specially-prepared crystals made of mesonium, the same material the Staff's focusing crystal was forged from — would also live again…in complete defiance of the expectations forced on them thanks to _The Program_ and the abominable dictatorship that had allowed such a monstrous "show" to exist in the first place.

_"You have brought us here and allowed us to live our lives anew free of the Dark One's grasp…but without our beloved male colleagues at our sides, we are not complete! Go, Master Geran! Give our friends their lives back as well!"_

Fortunately, unlike many of his race, Geran was not a monster…

…but a simple, lonely boy _their_ age…who had just discovered he was **_gay_** of all things!

And had originally just wanted a replica of what was — to him — an inspiring fictional character from a tragic novel, movie and manga series he liked a lot…so he wouldn't be lonely for the rest of his life.

Hearing that confession from him, Yūka wondered how Shō would react to THAT!

Geran then noted that because there were other _Battle Royale_ fans who were his friends, it was decided to bring ALL the Shiroiwa _Program_ players to life via the bioroid factory.

Of course, Geran never suspected that the Staff of Gihan — loaned to his grandfather Kahon odai-Farosh by one of the Guardians, the secret religious police of the Niphentaxian Union — would actually pull the souls of the REAL people through the dimensional veil to allow them to live again.

In realising what he had ultimately triggered, he discovered new strength within himself to throw away the shackles of the "one true faith" to become something more.

_"Hai, Mizuho-sama! In the name of the Living Goddess, I swear it!"_

On hearing that, Yūko privately vowed she would find a way to convert Geran to her own personal faith in Jesus and give him a _**true**_ religion he could call his own.

_God will be with you, Geran-kun! Be safe! You're part of us now!_

Surprised by that benediction from the beautiful and peace-loving Sakaki Yūko-sama, the would-be boyfriend of the passionate and handsome Tsukioka Shō-sama could only nod before Mizuho sent him away.

_"Your god allowed the Staff to bring you here to live again, Yūko-sama. If He did that for you, He'll definitely do it for your friends as well!"_

And with that, he was sent back to Phentax Two…

…and in remembering what he said, Yūko realised there was a God after all.

Her faith was proven…

…and for the first time in so long, she was truly happy.

* * *

Following the Liberation and the shifting of over _**two billion**_ Avalonians to Earth came five months of fearful isolation within the walls of Gestation Tower #98.

While the girls — save Mizuho — were mortally scared of being discovered and forced back to the dark hellhole they had just come from, they tried to live normal lives.

Even if they had to use the Rōnin's Salvation on occasion to get some money to augment the bland replicated food produced inside the tower with _real_ food…

…not to mention spend quiet weekends visiting public baths in a dozen nations — always a different place to ensure no discovery — to feel real water on their skins.

To breathe real air on a living planet.

To interact — even cautiously, never saying their names to anyone they talked to — with real people again, both Japanese and foreigners.

While they were doing that, they came to learn more about this dimension's Earth.

As they did that, they also learned more and more about Moroboshi Ataru.

They all watched as he worked himself to exhaustion day after day to comfort people who had endured a trauma not even the madness of _The Program_ could ever equal. Not bothering to sleep or eat until his older sister Negako — who was this Earth's first true _**artificial intelligence**_…which girls like Satomi and Megumi thought was truly the epitome of total awesomeness; to actually swear a binding _**magical oath**_ of all things when he was _**six**_ years old to help Negako-sensei finally become a real human being showed to them what sort of wonderful man Ataru really was…even when he was just a little boy! — had to stun him unconscious to drag him to their base camp in the central control tower and force food into him or make him sleep.

Always ready to comfort bioroids who had been tortured to near-insanity by their cruel and evil masters and mistresses…and comfort those bioroids like poor Mizuno Tomomi, who — while blessed with a kind and noble master or mistress — now grieved for the death of those who had welcomed the beautiful artificial women into their homes and family without any care in the Universe towards the dictates of the "one true faith."

Never ONCE surrendering to the unbelievable temptation of the flesh that such beautiful women — in numbers that would simply boggle the mind — presented him, no matter how desperate those Avalonians were to express their understandable gratitude at one of the "Liberators" for what he had done to see them finally free.

Never ONCE surrendering to the temptations of a more innocent time…

Indeed, Mitsuko had the rights of it.

_"That is no boy! That is a MAN!"_

No stupid teenage boy, after all, would say "no" on being given the opportunity — many times in the same DAY, in fact! — to have sex with such incredibly beautiful women.

Such incredible strength…

Such undying compassion…

Such profound respect…

For Sakaki Yūko, Moroboshi Ataru was this universe's version of Nanahara Shūya…

…which for her — and many others of the Shiroiwa girls — was, in borrowing Nakagawa Yūka's own favourite term, something that had earned ALL their seals of approval.

_He is no demon. He's not even a rowdy boy. He's so _nice_…!_

Soon, many of her friends — Mizuho, Satomi, Mitsuko, Hirono — began expressing hope that the chance would come and Ataru would comfort _**them**_ after what they endured.

Even with the terrible fear many of them felt about being discovered…

…Moroboshi Ataru had become their living symbol of hope for a better tomorrow.

_If we could stay…we can be with Ataru-kun…he will love us…_

Yūko's first-ever wet dream was that of Ataru making her a woman.

_Ataru-kun…you're the most wonderful man of all… _

_I love you, Ataru-kun…I will always love you…_

Yes, even when he went back to Earth with his siblings a month after the Liberation of the Avalonians so he could finally get back to high school and put his life back to rights after it had been so horribly derailed by Redet Hensō over a period of six months, Yūko still wanted to be close to him.

_If we can stay…we can be with Ataru-kun… _

_He will love me…and I will love him… _

_We will all love him…_

* * *

At roughly the same time, a powerful urge began hitting the Shiroiwa girls.

_Yumiko and Yukiko…they're so happy now… _

_Noriko and Yukie…Shūya-kun would like that, I think… _

_Takako and Kayoko…Hiroki-kun won't be alone anymore… _

_Sakura and Yoshimi…I hope Kazuhiko-kun will understand… _

_Even Megumi and Kaori with Mitsuko and Hirono… _

_Wow! That's just plain_ weird_…! _

_Yet…they're so happy… _

_They're all so happy now…_

On realising that, the guilt of what had happened on Oki-shima — even if the Staff of Gihan had effectively _**negated**_ the result — slammed anew into Yūko's heart.

_Yet… _

_My friends… _

_I lit the fuse… _

_They were my friends… _

_They were so kind to me… _

_…and I_ betrayed _them all! _

_I KILLED THEM!_

So she kept herself away from forging a _marei'cha_ bond with those who were still single after couples began to form amongst them.

Especially Noda Satomi, Nakagawa Yūka, Tanizawa Haruka and Matsui Chisato.

ESPECIALLY not THEM…!

_Not worthy… _

_I'm not worthy…_

* * *

Powerful arms gently yet suddenly pulled the sobbing Yūko into a comforting embrace.

_Not worthy… _

_I'm not worthy of them… _

_Not Yūka… _

_Not Haruka… _

_Not Chisato… _

_Not Yukie… _

_Not Satomi… _

_NO ONE!_

Both girls were now crying as Karin gently stroked Yūko's dark brown hair.

_Not worthy… _

_You_ are _worthy… _

_No, I'm not…! _

_You are worthy, Yūko-sama…! _

_But… _

_Goshujin-sama cried for you, Yūko-sama…_

Yūko blinked as she looked into Karin's chestnut eyes, and then she smiled.

_Ataru-kun cried for me, too…for all of us… _

_Hai! Ataru-sama is like that, isn't he? _

_Hai…so much like Shūya-kun…and Yōichi-sempai, too!_

Hearing that made Karin blush with delight.

"Do you want me to be like that, Yūko-sama…?"

Yūko gazed at her, and then she leaned up to gently kiss the other girl's lips.

"You already are…Karin-vayae…"

Karin blinked…and then she pulled Yūko close to her…

…as something finally fell silent deep within her own mind.

And for the first time since her initial activation months ago…

…the companion gynoid felt truly _**free**_.

"I will be that for you…Yūko-vayae…"

They then kissed…

* * *

Watching this from nearby, Mizuho smiled as she turned away, her own pale blue eyes tearing with delight as she focused anew on the templation of Karin's new body.

_Oh, Master, You have tested me so much these last five months…_

She gazed up towards the high ceiling of the gestation room.

_No matter what, I will not fail either You or Your Noble Servant who now holds the key to unlocking my own inner heart and soul…_

A quick glance back to Karin and Yūko as they continued to kiss away, the former finally free to explore a potential relationship she had NOT been programmed to pursue with mad fanaticism…and the latter discovering that someone would be able to love her and care for her and make her feel the worthiest person in the whole of Creation.

_And I will NEVER fail my beloved friends…_

Reaching for the Staff to grasp it and feel its power flow through her once more like a relentless tsunami, the would-be Zoroastrian warrior-priestess allowed her tears to flow.

_Never will I fail…! _

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

1) Translations: **Wǔshù** — Literally "martial art," this is the catch-all term used in China to describe the various disciplines that are often called **kung fu** (which is derived from the Mandarin **gōngfū** [literally meaning "achievement of man"]) in the West; **Bō** — Oriental version of a quarterstaff, which is normally 180 centimetres (70.8 inches) long; **Aho** — The Kansai dialect version of the word "baka," which means "fool" or "idiot;" **Chūō** — Central; **JR** — Japan Rail, the name for the country's national railroad network; **PTSD** — Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder; **-ya** — Korean version of the Japanese "-chan" suffix honorific for vowel-ending names (for consonant-ending names, it's **-a**); **NADA** — Acronym for "Non-Aggressive Defence Army," which is the Greater East Asia Republic's internal security force (they are always there to assist in the running of _Program_ episodes, as they were introduced in Book 2 of the _Battle Royale_ manga); **WMD** — Weapons of Mass Destruction, which is the catch-all phrase for nuclear, biological and chemical warfare weapons; **Yukata** — Lightweight summer version of a kimono.

2) _Yatsura_ character notes: **Inu Chigaiko** first appeared in _The Senior Year_ story "Darling's Secret Date" (the curse mentioned here that was said to have affected her because of the **Red Cloak**, who appeared in the manga story of the same name [manga episode #41] — this is my invention, by the way — made everyone literally forget her name…save for Moroboshi Ataru, of course, which made Chigaiko fall in love with him); **Sŏ Yŏn'i**, **Inoue Tamako** and their boyfriend **Mifune Hideyuki** were originally intended to appear in a _TSY_ side story named "A Spy Amongst Us" that hasn't yet been released (all three of them also appeared in _Long Way Home_); Ataru's paternal uncle **Moroboshi Komeru** first appeared in the _TSY_ story "Spirit-War Tomobiki;" both **Obinata Hiromi** and **Yamagata Masako** (their family names are my creation) were mentioned in the manga story "Even Though I Wait For You" (manga episode #27); **Tsuruya Rumiko** is my name for the look-alike of Takahashi-sensei who appears from time to time in various parts of the _Yatsura_ manga such as the story "Food Fight" (manga episode #106), where she was one of Mendō's allies in trying to stop their classmates from leaving school grounds to have lunch; **Arakida Yui** is my name for the girl who wishes for a boyfriend in the manga story "The Bluebird of Happiness" (manga episode #280); and the **Old Lady of the Oak Forest** (I give her the given name **Zōju**) appeared in the third movie, _Remember My Love_.

3) While the _Yatsura_ manga did not follow a specific timeline, I placed all the characters in Ataru's class in the first year of high school (Grade 10 in Canada) when Hensō arrived in the summer of 2009. In Japan, the school year commences in April, so Ataru, Tariko and Hiromi advanced to the second year of high school (Grade 11) at that time they came down from the Avalon bioroid factory…as did everyone else in their class. Thus, when Hensō was in their class, Ataru and his classmates were in **Class 1-4** (literally meaning "High School Year 1, Class 4"). After the start of April in 2010, they were in **Class 2-4** ("High School Year 2, Class 4").

4) As explained in _Phoenix From the Ashes_, the relationship between Saotome (later Hayashi) Ranma and his siblings to Professor **Indiana Jones** is based on the fanfic story _Suikoden One Half_ by **MadHat886**, which can be located at this website. The details concerning this situation were described in Part 6 of _PFtA_.

5) **Ryanggang Province** (in Korean, _Ryanggang-do_) is one of two new provinces of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, created in the wake of the Korean War of 1950-53 to give that part of the Land of the Morning Calm the same number of provinces as the Republic of Korea had. Located in the **Kwannam** (literally meaning "South of the Ridge;" the ridge in question is the **Mach'ŏnnyŏng-sanmaek** that extends along the inter-Hamgyŏng provincial border from near the East Sea/Sea of Japan city of **Kimch'aek** [formerly **Sŏngjin**] in a northeast direction towards the Chinese border) region of the country, Ryanggang is known to South Koreans by the term "Yanggang;" the _hanja_ (Chinese characters) that go into the province's name, 兩江 (literally meaning "two great rivers"), remain the same.

As an aside, Ryanggang obviously received its name because of the fact that Korea's highest mountain, the 2,744 metre (9,003 feet) tall **Paekdu-san** (literally "white-headed mountain") — which is on the Sino-Korean border — is the source point of the two great rivers which form the traditional border between the Land of the Morning Calm and the Middle Kingdom, the **Yālù-jiāng** (in Korean, **Amnok-gang**) flowing to the southwest towards the West Korea Bay (a northern arm of the Yellow Sea)…and the **Túmen-jiāng** (in Korean, **Tuman-gang**) flowing east towards the East Sea. Paekdu-san is spiritually seen as the place where the Korean people first arose; in a nod to this belief, the late leader of the DPRK, **Kim Chŏngil** (1941-2011) was born on the slopes of Paekdu-san (sources outside North Korea, however, state that the late Grand Marshal Kim was born in the Russian fishing village of **Vjátskoe** on the Amúr River near the city of Xabarovsk).

6) The term "**They Who Must Never Be Named**" is one of the commonly-used terms for the Yizibajohei (as introduced in Note 2 of Part 3); the other known nickname for this race amongst the space-faring civilisations in the local cluster around Earth is the "**You Know Whos**." The planet Yiziba itself is known commonly as "**You Know Where**" or the "**Unspeakable Place**." And yes, before you ask, this was inspired by what was used in the _Harry Potter_ novels when it came to how British wizards often addressed Voldemort as.

7) The **V-2** rocket — the designation is short for _Vergeltungswaffe 2_ (literally meaning "Retaliation Weapon 2") — was the world's first military ballistic missile. First developed at the Army Research Centre in **Peenemünde** on the Baltic Sea island of Usedom in the state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern near the Polish border in 1942, the V-2 (given the in-house designation **A4**, which is short for _Aggregate 4_, derived from the German word _aggregat_ [which means a group of machines working together]) was capable of carrying a bomb load of one tonne (2,200 pounds) of **Amatol** (a mixture of TNT and ammonium nitrate) at a maximum speed of 5,760 kilometres per hour (3,580 miles per hour) to a maximum range of 320 kilometres (200 miles). The first V-2 attack on the Allies was launched on 8 September 1944 and aimed at Paris. Most of the V-2s used by the Nazis against the Allies were aimed against London in Britain or Antwerp in Belgium as a way of stopping the joint American/British/Canadian/French invasion of the Third Reich.

Given at the same time that the Nazis were also developing nuclear weapons, it is possible that V-2s could have been fitted with atomic warheads…and the concept of launching such rockets from towed barges moved into position at sea by U-boats was also a possibility.

8) In the universe of my stories, **Galactic Escape Velocity** (short-form **GEV**) is set at Warp 4.4 (which, given that warp speeds is a fifth-power factor in my stories, is 1649.16 times the speed of light).

9) **Horikawa Mutsumi** and **Inada Ayumu** are both characters from _Hōkago Ren'ai Club_.

10) The memories that **Sakaki Yūko** have of her experiences on Oki-shima are directly based on what was depicted in the _Battle Royale_ manga stories "Sakaki Yūko," "Wish" and "Reparation" (manga episodes #72-74).

11) Ataru's nieces **Moroboshi Arami** (**Ryūben Kōnō-Kaiōji**), **Moroboshi Kanami** (**Ryūkyō Sanyō-Hakuwaoji**) and **Moroboshi Yayoi** (**Ryūi Hokukyō-ōji**) were all introduced in _Phoenix From the Ashes_, first appearing in Parts 34, 39 and 49 respectively. The "style-name" elements of their battle names imply they are imperial princes of the Xiàolíng Emperor of Hàn; in her first life, Kanami was the Xiàolíng Emperor's successor on the Dragon Throne of China. Translated, Arami's battle name means "**Liú Biàn, the Prince Huái of Hóngnóng**." Kanami's battle name means "**Liú Xié, the Prince Bóhé of Shānyáng**. Yayoi's battle name means "**Liú Yì, the Prince of Běixīang**."

As an aside, as he died before reaching age 20, Liú Biàn was never given a style name. Thus, Arami uses the posthumous name "Huái" given to her past-self as part of the style name element of her battle name.

Kanami was, as noted above, the Xiàoxiàn Emperor of Hàn in her first life, but was deposed from the throne in 220 C.E. Thus, Kanami uses the style name "Bóhé" given to her first-self at adulthood with his post-abdication ducal title elevated to the rank of imperial prince.

And Yayoi's past self, who died at age five, was never given a style name or princely realm by his father. The choice of becoming the Prince of Běixīang was selected in honour of his namesake, **Liú Yì, the Marquess of Běixīang** (unknown date of birth, died 125).

Also, it should be noted here that the number of children of the Xiàolíng Emperor of Hàn; and their names have been lost to history save for three of them; Liú Biàn and Liú Xié were two. As is known, those three children were the only ones to survive into their teen years. Thus, in _PFtA_, I set the total number of children born to the Xiàolíng Emperor at thirteen, plus created Moroboshi Yayoi/Liú Yì as a symbolic character to mark those unknown children who died very young.


	6. New Players, New Survivors

Moroboshi Ataru considered himself a very peaceful man at heart.

Despite his ability to transform into a practically unstoppable, Te'a-powered human killing machine that looked akin to a mad mixture of the Terminator and a patrol labor from _Patlabor_ — something he preferred not to do as doing such always badly hurt his adopted little sister Hiromi — believed by more spiritually-inclined Avalonians to be a special "blessing" from the Master of Entropy Himself, he loathed any type of violence.

That didn't, of course, cover the fact that — thanks to his making the Sacred Promise of Bunka Go-nen on his sixth birthday — he was now effectively jōnin-rank in one of the deadliest martial arts schools ever devised…and had been granted the right to take on students by the grandmaster of said school, his adopted older sister Negako.

Of course, the presence of a separate soul inside his subconscious mind since the day he took the Promise — which was joined by the soul of the second-to-last emperor of the Latter Hàn Dynasty on finding the magatama bearing said soul in the summer of his first year of elementary school — ended up ripping his soul literally in half, thus allowing him to eventually get a THIRD sister in his true spiritual twin, Tariko.

After undergoing all that, it surprised a lot of people from outside Tomobiki that Ataru hadn't become a raving lunatic, ready to kill at a moment's notice.

People _inside_ Tomobiki were — regardless of what they believed when it came to Ataru and how he might have been the cause of all the weird things that had haunted the town in the wake of the Tag Race in the summer of 2009 — actually quite glad that he had NOT become such a raving lunatic. Dealing with a man who could literally KILL without leaving any sort of mark on a body thanks to his soulsword abilities — to say ANYTHING of being able to transform into something that might have given a Cenobite from the _Hellraiser_ movies nightmares; after all, the Master of Entropy was the ELDER GOD of DEATH in Sagussan mythos…which meant He did NOT discriminate between mortals and divinities when He dragged souls through the Veil of the Te'a into what lay Beyond — would make most people want to soil their undergarments if not hide under the bed.

While there were many in his hometown who STILL couldn't open their damned eyes and SEE the truth laid out before them — those who actually could were most often those who had Sagussan DNA in their bodies, thus having access to touch-telepathic and empathic powers and could easily understand what was going on inside the former Terran tag race champion's soul — when it came to Ataru and the many interesting factors that ruled his life, there were few who were stupid enough to try to challenge the man head-on.

Those who _were_ stupid enough often wound up put down directly by those who cared for or loved Ataru very much…in lieu of Ataru going postal over them personally.

Chief amongst such people was the aforementioned Moroboshi Hiromi, known to fellow tōshi as "Ryūkō Kyōrei" and normally addressed directly by her brothers and sisters from the Three Kingdoms of China as "My Emperor" or "Majesty." The tōshi had, by now, got the message to NEVER use the term "Reitei-sama" in the reborn emperor's presence; that would normally earn them an ugly glare from said reborn emperor. That was something NO tōshi — to say anything of anyone who knew Hiromi and understood the strange social dynamics that dominated relations between her and other tōshi — wished to experience; earning such "Imperial" disfavour was a guarantee that other tōshi would gladly deliver a crippling beat-down to the offending fools for their disrespect.

Those in Tomobiki who still wanted to see Ataru returned back to his "proper place" in the town's social fabric — which was, as Hiromi herself once put it with scathing scorn when a television news journalist asked her about it one day back in April, to act as the town's "court jester" who wouldn't be allowed the right to make _any_ decision which contradicted the wishes of his "betters"…which didn't earn Hiromi any positive points from many people in town, but she simply didn't care about that and was just too well-skilled to be worried about potential attacks on her person — were wise not to provoke such things when it was known or suspected that Hiromi would be close by.

They _were_ stupid, of course; however, they were _not_ suicidal!

Tōshi — as Redet Lum's young cousin Ten would say it — were _**scary**_!

Of course, the chances of getting an opportunity to "put the uppity, trouble-making pervert down" had grown quite less once two young ladies — both recently of Rakuyō Senior High School in the Bunkyō Ward of Tōkyō — became Ataru's live-in lovers.

Sebone Shikuko, also known as "Ryofu Hōsen" and ranked as one of the top two fighting tōshi in all of Kantō, was one of those lovers.

She had a body that was — in the opinions of all who considered themselves experts in all the nuances of female pulchritude — to _die_ for. That was matched to a sensual demeanour that would turn most men — and many women given that Shikuko had discovered her bisexual nature long before she became an Avalonian — into slobbering wrecks once she focused her attention on someone. Atop that, she had inherited intense fighting skills and battle experience gathered from over a dozen lifetimes spanning eighteen centuries across China, Korea and Japan thanks to the Curse of the Sacred Bead.

In essence, as all experts on tōshi would readily agree to when asked, Sebone Shikuko was not someone anyone wanted to be on the _bad_ side of!

There was also her overprotective nature when it came to those she considered under her guardianship. Moroboshi Ataru was one of several on that list…as the members of Soban's gang learned the HARD way a week after the Yaminokuni mission ended. They — after being provoked by the Rosebuds when those girls learned that the man they lusted after was now being pursued by an _Avalonian_ of all things! — had tried to jump Ataru one night after he and Shikuko had spent some quality time at Karaoke Tajimamori, Tomobiki's most popular karaoke pub and restaurant, in the town Ginza along with her bond-mate and his other lover, Noberu Miyako (also known as "Chinkyū Kōdai"), who was a C-rank tōshi and the chief strategist to the reborn Flying General of Hàn.

All the members of the gang — including Soban, much to the relief of one Miyake Shinobu — were STILL in intensive care at Tomobiki General Hospital for multiple compound fractures, internal bleeding and other injuries delivered to the vital organs.

Rumours were flying around that the doctors handling those cases had come to agree that the chances of their patients ever being fathers in the future were slim-to-nil.

Of course, a couple of the idiots should NOT have groped Miyako's breasts right in front of Shikuko after she had snapped the hinges of Soban's jaw with her bare hands.

After Shikuko had given them the beat down of their lives, Ataru — who loathed the idea of people groping a girl's breasts, especially when said girl was one of his lovers — happily added to the gang's misery by using shiatsu strikes on the idiots to ensure none of them could ever reproduce if they were lucky to survive their teen years.

Of course, shortly after the gang got out of surgery and were able to be talked to, Ataru visited each of them in their bedrooms — being a super-ninja DID have its perks — to deliver his ultimatum for being given the chance to have babies in the future:

Never listen to the Rosebuds about anything again!

Of course, Soban got a double-whammy when Ataru saw him:

Atop his vowing not to help Ogin Haneko or any of her stupid fan girl friends, he had to totally renounce Miyake Shinobu.

Unfortunately, that resulted in the fat-lipped moron's constant and continuous wailing of "Shinobu-san, suki da…!" whenever he was conscious…thus forcing his health care providers to keep him sedated since he — even with shattered arm and leg bones, not to mention a wired-shut jaw and collapsed lungs — was still quite strong.

The next day, Shinobu had gladly rewarded Ataru, Shikuko and Miyako with tongue-filled kisses on hearing what they had effectively done for his oldest childhood friend.

Tariko, of course, had quipped, "Quit hitting on my girl, you perverts!"

Which was good for a laugh.

Now…

* * *

Tomobiki, the town Ginza, near Karaoke Tajimamori, two hours before supper…

"Hey."

Ataru perked on hearing that…and then he felt total bliss overcome him as the most perfect pair of size 36 — in American measurements — D-cup breasts he had ever had the privilege of seeing, to say anything of _touching_, pressed into his upper back. A second later, strong yet warm arms wrapped around him as perfect lips began to gently suckle on his lower right earlobe. Feeling that, he reached back to press an equally perfect pair of size 35 — again, in American measurements — hips into his butt.

"Hey, yourself," he quietly said as Shikuko's hands slowly drifted up and down that wonderful chest of his. "Aren't you…?"

"Wonders of materialisers," the reborn "Mightiest Warrior Alive" teased as she gently breathed into his ear. "Soon as I got the text from Chigaiko-chan yesterday about your new houseguests — after Miyako and I spent an hour restarting our hearts from the shock on learning that your favourite manga characters are actually REAL, let alone having been dragged here against their will from their own dimension and timeline…even if, save for Noriko-chan and Shūya-kun, they were literally saved from the grasp of your other-self's spiritual patron — I contacted a friend up on Amenoukihashi to beam us back here from Guam to make sure you were okay." She gently stroked the tip of her nose into the area of his neck below and behind his ear, which always aroused him. "So how many of these girls are we welcoming into our bed, Ataru?" she purred.

He blinked. "You're not _jealous_?!" He knew Shikuko liked sex, but _jeez_…!

A sigh. "Well, much that I personally WOULD prefer to have you for Miyako and myself, I know how much you really like those characters. And if all the information about them now on the HyperNet is true — and seeing that such is coming from _Negako_ of all people, it's _**guaranteed**_ to be true — they had front-row seats to what you and your siblings did for a whole month on the bioroid factory even if they sealed themselves inside Tower #98 that whole time. Atop that, since your truly FAVOURITE character of that lot is most likely this mysterious '**_her_**' the magicals have been gushing about…" A roll of her evergreen eyes. "I swear, ever since they passed that stupid secrecy statue in 1692, the magicals on Earth have gotten more moronic over the generations…"

He cackled. "Don't say that in front of Lovegood-sensei, Shikuko!"

"Well, there are the few wonderful exceptions to the rule, of course!" she noted. "Which is even all the more surprising given she's from ENGLAND of all places!"

"Oh, I have to agree on that, Shikuko-chan," a familiar voice then hailed as someone came up to join them from Kimono Tansuya. "Then again, there has been a massive wrackspurt plague over the British Isles for years. So many people…" A shake of the head as Ataru and Shikuko tried not to snicker. "So how are you, anyway? I heard you and your soul-mate were off to Guam to enjoy a family vacation before you and your fellow tōshi would tear each other to pieces in the Great Fighters Tournament."

"Here to make sure my other lover is alright and well, Sensei," Shikuko said as she gazed fondly on Luna Lovegood. "And to confirm with my own eyes that this whole crazy story about the _Battle Royale_ cast actually being REAL PEOPLE is true."

Luna's own silver-blue eyes twinkled. "Especially since at least two of those girls now wish to become your _surei'cha_'s bond-mates, five more are committed to seeing him become the fathers of their future children and four more atop that would consider him a worthy candidate of same," she said as Ataru sputtered in embarrassment.

"Who?!" the Rakuyō senior demanded with a playful lilt in her voice.

"Well, Inada Mizuho — whom the magicals of the world have simply called '_**her**_' over the last few months…and I agree, it WAS a silly nickname for her, but try to persuade the reporters of the _Daily Prophet_ and other newspapers to think up of something better — and Noda Satomi are the would-be bond-mates." She then hummed. "That whole situation actually rather reminds me of what our friends from Hogwarts believed might have happened between Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and myself hadn't those useless marriage contracts with Mandy Brocklehurst and Pansy Parkinson come up." As Shikuko nodded, the British magical naturalist added, "The girls who are definitely interested in shagging your lover totally insensate to have wonderful babies with include Sōma Mitsuko, Shimizu Hirono, Sakaki Yūko, Tanizawa Haruka and Matsui Chisato. The four others beyond that are Etō Megumi and Minami Kaori — respectively, they're Mitsuko-chan's and Hirono-chan's would-be soul-mates — as well as Kitano Yukiko and Kusaka Yumiko, who are already soul-mates." A wink. "Should be a most interesting orgy indeed!"

Ataru awked. "Sensei!"

"Who said the magic word?!"

Luna turned as Hirono came up hand-in-hand with Kaori. "'Orgy' is a magic word?" the native of Devon wondered before she hummed. "I never knew that!"

A flash of light and energy then made people turn. "Most likely, it was seen as a magical trigger back in the days of ancient Greece, Lady Luna," Mizuho stated as she beckoned Yūko and her new bond-mate Shibamata Karin up to join them.

Shikuko looked surprised. "I always heard it was from Rome."

"Nay, Lady Shikuko!" the would-be warrior-priestess stated. "The traditions of the _orgion_ — which was an ecstatic rite to allow the priests engaging in such to become one with their gods — were passed on to those who worshipped the Roman god of wine, Bacchus; he was the equal of the Greek Dionysus, in whose patronage various _orgia_ were often carried out. Since such rituals were done by men and women _**together**_…"

"The Romans — being such totally hypocritical prudes at times — banned it A.U.C. 568; 186 B.C.E. in the modern Christian calendar," Luna finished for Mizuho, nodding in approval at the younger girl's considerable mythological knowledge. Then again, given Mizuho's considerable exposure to _Dungeons and Dragons_ back in Shiroiwa — which had been augmented with her many visits to magical enclaves across Earth over the previous five months, thus allowing her to learn a lot about knowledge that had long been lost in the normal world — that she would understand such things should be expected.

"'S funny," Ataru noted. "I always thought the Romans were really practical people."

"In many ways, they were, Ataru…but I always believed the Chinese were far more practical in the long term," Luna stated. "After all, look at how long the Middle Kingdom lasted in monarchial format in comparison to the Roman Empire."

"Good point," he mused before gazing at Yūko's new bond-mate. "How are you, Karin-san? Glad to be finally freed of that stupid rabbit system Yōichi's grandpa put into you?"

"Actually, I am," Karin confessed as her cheeks reddened. Immediately, Yūko moved to embrace her from one side, which made Hirono and Kaori gape in shock as they picked up on the _marei'cha_ bond between the former gynoid and their classmate. "Ataru-sama, I'm sorry that we've been such pains in the butt to you about Goshujin-sama…"

"Do you know where your sisters are at this time, Karin-chan?" Luna asked.

A shake of the head. "No, Lovegood-sensei. When I came out here today to find Ataru-sama to make him reveal where Goshujin-sama was, the knowledge of our current base of operations was deleted from my memory banks. It was in RAM memory, which couldn't be recovered to be carried into my new body when Mizuho-san shifted my soul into it." She then sighed. "That's been pretty standard with all of us, unfortunately."

"A mechanical version of the Fidelius Charm," Ataru added.

The magical naturalist from Britain nodded in understanding. "Well, that's not good. Still, given that both Raika-chan and you have effectively disappeared from whatever monitoring network you both were linked to, Karin-chan, your sisters might start getting desperate." To Mizuho. "I dare say you'll be making several trips up to the factory to convert those other poor girls into bioroids before the week is out, Mizuho-chan."

Mizuho nodded. "Aye, that's true. Given that their inner souls are encased with mesonium — and given that the standard rule of mesonium is that if _**one**_ sentient being is empowered by such desires NOT to be found by anyone else, _**anyone else**_ empowered by mesonium will _**not**_ be able to find them — it will be a bit of a chore."

"Even with the Staff?" Hirono wondered as her eyes widened in shock.

"Aye, friend Hirono. Even with the Staff."

"Lucky thing the idiots that ran _The Program_ never knew about meson," Ataru noted.

"Aye, true…"

"Ataru-kun!"

Heads snapped over in the direction of the local kimono shop as the others who had spent the last couple of hours inside it came their way. Of course, since kimonos were handmade, it would be quite a while before the Shiroiwa girls other than Mizuho and Yūko — Ataru personally vowed to bring them back here when the chance came to make sure they could get their own kimonos; it was starting to get late in the day — would receive their new traditional gowns. "Hey, guys! Look who just joined us!" Hirono then stated as she waved to the girl now being hugged by Yūko.

Instantly, a gushing swarm of chattering teenagers began firing a storm of questions at the newest couple in their group, which made Karin sputter in embarrassment as Yūko tried to calm them all down. Watching them gab away from nearby, Ataru reached over to gently pull Mizuho into a one-armed embrace. Shikuko was quick to add her own arm around the younger girl's neck to show her approval of Mizuho's more-than-friendly interest in him; she had been quick to sense the would-be warrior-priestess' acceptance of her and her own bond-mate having unrestricted rights to Ataru's bed. "Once Karin's sisters Kirara and Mitsuki show up, we'll introduce them to Haruka and Chisato," he whispered.

"So it will be," Mizuho agreed, keeping her voice down…

* * *

Aboard a certain warp-sloop now landed on the interior of the Planet of Shadows…

"I sent the _Express_ flying up towards the sun on auto-pilot, Onii-san."

Hearing that report from Tomoe — relayed through the sloop's on-board communications network from the pilotage — Kawada Shōgo breathed out in relief. "Dōmo, Tomoe-chan," he declared before he flicked off the intercom, and then he moved to sip from the bottle of fruit juice — it was based on some Niphentaxian version of mango, a little sweeter than what he was used to, but still quite tasty — that had been provided for him by the drinks replicator in the small medical station he had taken over as his own. Beyond the secure door leading into an isolation room, sixteen newly-templated Terran-form Avalonians were resting up after their souls had been transferred from their dying cyborg bodies. With Tomoe's guidance, Shōgo had used the Genesis Wand of Parah to teleport their friends' old bodies into the medical station of the _Shiroiwa Express_, then sealed the space to prevent potential contamination before the sheer heat of the Planet of Shadow's trapped star would melt it all into its component atoms.

_Lucky for us we have a smart kid like Tomoe-chan to help out with all this until Mai and her friends finally get back on their feet_, the only two-time _Program_ player in history mused to himself as he sipped his juice. _None of us knew what might happen if the anti-matter inside the warp drive of the_ Express _was allowed to explode on that sun's surface. Given how delicate some of the climate controls in a place like this have to be — after all,_ stars _are not meant to be encased inside a damned METAL BALL of all things! — starting up a damned_ **solar storm** _here is NOT a smart thing…!_

"Hey!"

He turned to smile at the angelic woman who had just walked in. "Hey."

Inoue Keiko moved to sit in his lap, gently snuggling against her boyfriend…and future _marei'cha_ if the Wand was correct in its analysis of the overwhelming urge to merge souls with the man that just overcame her after she had embraced him for the first time in their new bodies was true. Shōgo certainly didn't mind that; that very same urge had overcome him when his own powers had picked up on what was happening inside Keiko…which had given his new classmates from Shiroiwa reason to cheer anew beyond being allowed to finally meet up with his old female classmates from Kōbe.

As the two relaxed in each other's arms, she leaned her forehead against his cheek, thus allowing their minds to touch. «This is so strange,» she thought out.

«Tell me about it,» he confessed. «Can't be the insensitive lug I was back in Kōbe when I've now got actual _empathy_ to pick up on people's emotions…and I can eavesdrop on their very _thoughts_ by just _**touching**_ them, for fuck's sake!» As Keiko gave him an annoyed look — she never did like his profanity — he smirked. «Much that I am more than grateful to Shigeki and his friends for saving our butts from learning what lies beyond the Veil of the Te'a so soon in our lives…»

«The extras that come with these bodies are a lot to get used to,» she finished for him before her warm brown eyes sparkled with amusement. «Is there a thirty-day warranty?»

He jerked on hearing that before he roared with laughter. As she giggled in turn, he sighed. "Well, we kinda passed ours a few days ago," he admitted, which made her laugh out loud. "But then again…" A sigh. "We're alive and safe."

"We're not in that horrid Republic anymore," she added.

"Still, we ARE on the INSIDE of a freakin' _**Dyson sphere**_ of all things thousands of _**light-years**_ from this dimension's Earth," he warned before reaching over to pick up the Wand from a nearby table to gaze on its glowing focusing crystal. "Armed with a freaking man-portable _Genesis torpedo_ of all things to boot…which is almost as bad as the man-portable _weapon of mass destruction_ that nutty fruitcake Inada has now!"

Keiko scowled. "Mizuho-san can't be that bad!"

"You never went to school with the girl for two years and a semester, Keiko-san," a strange voice added from the open doorway to the medical station. "Your man's description of Mizuho-chan is right on the nose. Nuttier than a fruitcake."

Both turned as Mimura Shinji walked inside. "They need to rest," Shōgo warned.

A nod. "I'd figured that," the part-time computer hacker and basketball team forward said as he peered intently towards the isolation ward. Keiko knew that one of Fujino Shigeki's friends from Phentax Two, a pretty girl with brown eyes and short-cut, shaggy black hair named Tsukamoto Katako, was Shinji's girlfriend. _Hopefully, she'll get him to settle down and stop dating around_, Shōgo's girlfriend mused as she recalled the scene from the first chapter of the _Battle Royale_ manga, where Shinji contemplated on how many condoms he needed to be intimate with those fan girls he wanted to date after the school team won a game before a fateful bus trip in the summer of 2000. While Keiko and Shōgo had not been THAT intimate, they both knew of people in their class who had been willing to sleep with someone; Hakufu Kimiko and Hinase Minami were two of them.

"**_SHŌGO!_**"

Everyone turned as a teary-eyed Kimiko charged into the room. "What?!" Shōgo demanded.

Kimiko panted. "It's Minami!" she moaned out as tears streaked down her cheeks from her pain-filled dark grey eyes. "We…well, we were…you know…!"

She broke down and wept…before a pair of very strong hands helped her to a nearby chair. "Poor darling's just discovered that Minami-chan is the girl for her, Shōgo-kun," Tsukioka Shō stated as he gave the weeping girl with the wavy brown-grey hair a sympathetic look. "When they began to form the bond, Minami-chan started throwing up."

"Bless that wonderful empathy of yours, Shō!" Shōgo said as he lifted Keiko off his lap, and then he stood. Sweeping the Genesis Wand into his hand — and wishing for a damned good medical tricorder so he didn't have to depend on the Sagussan terraforming device to do the necessary diagnostics — he walked out of the room, heading aft to where the living quarters were. While the new bodies for Shō's boyfriend and his friends were being gestated, the Shiroiwa boys and the Kōbe girls had divvied up the many rooms — which were certainly a lot roomier than what had been on the _Express_ — between themselves.

Entering the small cabin Minami and Kimiko had chosen for themselves, Shōgo was relieved to see Nanahara Shūya and Sugimura Hiroki there helping the pale and shuddering girl who had been the second-place finisher in Shōgo's first run in _The Program_ into bed. As soon as she was tucked in, Hiroki began tapping several shiatsu points on the girl's head as Shūya moved to get a damp cloth to put over her forehead. After a moment, the wǔshù student took a deep breath, and then he pressed a point to allow the suffering girl to finally go to sleep. "She mind-raped one of Heikiko-san's friends shortly after she woke up, Shōgo," he reported as Shōgo came into the room. "When the _marei'cha_ urge overcame her mind and she moved to bond with Kimiko-san…"

A sigh. "Okay. Soon as she feels up to it, we'll let Kazuo get at her."

"What can he do?"

Both turned as a wet-cheeked Kimiko came in, escorted by Keiko and Shō. "The nine years Kazuo-kun stayed 'in the grey' gave him a very frightful control over his mind…which carried over into his new body even if he now has the full ability to emote like we do," Shō explained. "That gives him considerable mastery over his new body's powers. He could go in — once poor Minami-chan is feeling a little better — to help expunge the guilt that's developing deep in her mind because she did something like that. Even if that fellow was a monster, he still was a living being…"

"And we're telepaths now, Kimiko-san," Hiroki finished.

"Atop that, eighty-six thousand years of evolution in Sagussan genetics — which was enforced by eighty thousand years of a female-dominated culture that developed pretty strict rules about how one used one's powers — that is now part-and-parcel of every DNA strand in your new body is forcing this on her," Shōgo added. "You can't turn off that urge that just hit you concerning Minami, Kimiko. You have to bond with her if you don't want to suffer. Don't worry about what Kazuo has to do. He can get it cleared up in a half-hour, and _**then**_ you can bond as deeply as you want. He did it for Toshinori when he went a little too crazy on Shiroko-chan, so he knows what to do."

Kimiko gazed at him. "No way to turn it off?"

A shake of the head. "None. Sorry about that."

She thought about it for a moment, and then shrugged. "Better than being _dead_!"

"True," Shōgo noted…

* * *

Tomobiki, leaving the Ginza, suppertime…

"Ataru, you're right about one thing."

Ataru looked over. "What's that, Shikuko?"

"_**No**_ rāmen save for the rich folks! _**No**_ kimonos or yukatas…save for the rich folks again! And _**no karaoke**_ atop that, save ONLY for the rich folks, too?! There is simply NO WAY IN HELL that such gutless societies like that deserve to live!" Shikuko sternly declared as she extended her fingers to emphasise her points. "As soon as she gets back down here from Rishiri-tō, we both lean on Hiromi to borrow one of the Type One ships to blast the Greater East Asia Republic right back into the damned Stone Age!"

He nodded in agreement as he gently squeezed Mizuho's hand; Satomi had looped her arm around Shikuko's so that the reborn Flying General of the Hàn could hold the hand of her lover. The others on either side of them all laughed; as Shikuko had just noted, the Shiroiwa girls' time in Karaoke Tajimamori was the FIRST time all of them had been given the chance to sing their hearts out in a place outside music class in school. "If only Hadakeda-sensei had heard us sing away in there," Nakagawa Yūka then stated. "He always thought our class in Shiroiwa couldn't carry a damned tune."

"Then again, the music that was considered 'proper' to be taught in that sort of class was definitely for the birds, Yūka," Hirono added.

"Agreed," Kaori said with a scowl. "I even asked him once if we could try to learn some of Flip Side's music." She shook her head. "Oh, ye gods! The sheer NOISE that man made about actually trying to sing music that actually had a TUNE…!"

"He probably bet on _Program_ episodes, too," Ataru noted.

"He actually did."

Eyes locked on Ogawa Sakura. "Didn't you do that once?" Kakizaki Misa asked.

An embarrassed nod. "Hai, I did, Sempai. That's how I found out about Hadakeda-sensei betting on the episodes." A sigh as Yahagi Yoshimi gave her lover's hand a warm squeeze. "I actually reflected on that with Kazu when we were on Oki-shima before Geran-kun's grandpa had us brought here with the Staff." Sakura then giggled as her blue eyes twinkled with mirth. "Still, it's not all bad," she added.

"What do you mean, Saku?" Hirono asked.

A wink. "Any time MORE than one person survives a _Program_ episode, EVERYONE who bets on it _**loses**_ money, Hirono!" she declared. "No one DARES make a multi-survivor bet!"

The others nodded. "It wouldn't be seen as patriotic, you mean," Luna noted.

"Hai, Sensei."

"Lady Luna, I would suggest that — upon your return to merry old Albion — you consult with the wise and passionate Lady Hermione about this issue," Mizuho then noted.

Luna blinked in confusion. In the brief time she had got to know Inada Mizuho today, the British naturalist had come to slowly understand why so many of her peers from Hogwarts often got baffled at her. "Why should I do that, Mizuho-chan?"

"Given her loud support for the proper treatment of domestic house elves in your society, not to mention her stance against the racist bigotry that allowed that monster Voldemort to run amuck as much as he did twenty years ago, her vast knowledge of obscure curses and hexes would be of great value to make sure that — when we finally return to the dimension of our birth to put a stop to _The Program_ — such never arises again."

Luna hummed as she considered that point, and then she giggled. "True! I'll do that!"

A lot of the people around them laughed. "So you people DO plan to go back to your home dimension," Tatsumiya Mana noted.

"Not permanently, of course," Nakagawa Noriko answered. "But you have to admit, given the sheer numbers of _Program_ players — both those alive and those who died — who went through that madness before us, it would be a smart thing to do." She indicated the Staff of Gihan. "Even if it is well within the Staff's capabilities, bringing souls through the dimensional barriers to this dimension does drain its power reserves a bit. We were planning to start up with Shōgo-kun's old class in Kōbe and the class Mitsuko's father wanted to save from Takamatsu first when we finally made contact with Ataru-kun and Negako-sensei thanks to that creep who attacked him yesterday."

"How many people are we dealing with?" Ataru wondered.

"Master Shōgo's old class numbered twenty-two men and twenty-three women, himself included," Mizuho answered. "The class that Mitsuko's late father tried to save numbered forty-six. One of them was actually Mitsuko's paternal cousin, Sōma Maya."

He considered that for a moment, and then he sighed. "Well, it'll be tight…"

"You're actually considering having them live with you as well, Ataru-dono?" Nagase Kaede wondered as she gazed in wide-eyed surprise at him.

"Think about it, Kaede-sempai," he advised her. "Shōgo will want to get back together with Keiko-san as soon as she's back on her feet. Since Keiko-san's never dealt with the folks from Shiroiwa, she'll be more comfortable with her own peers than his. And I'm more than sure that Mitsuko would want to be close to family again."

"I barely remember Maya-nē," Mitsuko added as Megumi gave her hand a warm squeeze. "I needed Mizuho's help with the Staff to dredge up what memories I did have of her."

The others nodded. "So how can we fit _**ninety**_ more people into the house?" Satomi then asked. "I know your sister arranged to acquire the four houses across the street to the east of your family property, but that could only fit at most twelve people a house."

"Well, there's the connecting wing Ayami-chan's putting in to make the four houses into an 'H' block of sorts, so there'll be loads of bedroom space there, plus a large living room and a central kitchen if you want it," Ataru noted. "We have to remember that the guys are coming back with Geran and his friends, too; that's an extra sixteen people." As the Shiroiwa girls all nodded, he jutted his jaw out. "Look at the street here."

Everyone stopped as they gazed on the street before them. "Looks like a pretty normal street to me, Ataru," Hirono noted as they then gazed at him.

"Wait, Hirono! I know what he's talking about."

Eyes locked on Tanizawa Haruka. "What do you mean, Haruka-chan?" Shiina Sakurako asked.

"Have you ever seen a map of Tomobiki, Sempai?" the volleyball player asked. "How it's set up in a square grid pattern in comparison to the rest of Nishitōkyō? Not to mention how WIDE the streets are in this place, even the back streets?"

The visitors from Mahora all perked on hearing that. "I've been to many other Japanese cities and towns," Luna added. "Most streets in Japan are quite narrow in comparison to what's here. I would assume the damage from World War Two forced a change."

"Hai. The Mendō and the Mizunokōji were big suppliers to the war effort; this whole town was a massive factory zone then," Ataru said. Mendō Shūtarō — after volunteering to pay for the dress kimonos now being prepared by the staff at Kimono Tansuya for the Shiroiwa girls — went back to his family mansion when everyone went off to spend a couple of hours in Karaoke Tajimamori. "The Americans just flattened the place when the B-29s were able to fly out of Tinian and Saipan finally." He ignored the shocked looks on most of the Shiroiwa girls' faces; to them, the idea of Americans getting THAT close to the Home Islands back in the 1940s to launch strategic bombers was insane. "After the war, the town was rebuilt as an Army base for occupation troops. That's why the Mendō estate has an airport; it was part of the old base. After the Occupation ended in 1952, the Yanks cleared out from town and people moved back. But by that time, the streets had been made wide and turned into some local version of how Sapporo got built…"

"So if you close off the streets bordering the property…" Satomi began.

A nod. "Hai! Extra living space for the newcomers."

"And that will drive everyone in this town crazy," Shikuko added.

He tensed. "What do you mean?"

"Well, now that you'll have at least SEVEN confirmed lovers…!"

He awked as Hirono, Yūko and Satomi blushed, Mizuho smirked and Mitsuko laughed…

* * *

Back on the Planet of Shadows…

It was the beautiful violin music that had attracted Amélie de Beauharnais' attention to a two-person cabin near the aft end of the warp-sloop's residence deck.

Peeking inside the open door, she then blinked on seeing the physically shortest of the Shiroiwa boys now sitting on the bed, playing a beautiful rendition of François Joseph Gossec's lovely _Gavotte in D Major_. As she remained quiet while Oda Toshinori played away, Amélie perked on noting that his instrument looked like an honest-to-goodness Stradivarius. Which made sense; the scion and would-be heir of the Oda Produce — the largest food wholesaler in Kagawa Prefecture — fortune was of a quite wealthy family. Amélie then smiled as she remembered the one time she had seen the young prodigy from Kagawa play at a regional concert held in Ōsaka a week before she was condemned to die in _The Program_. As the only daughter of a French wine distributor who was living in Kōbe at the time, Amélie had been invited to attend the concert.

At the end of the beautiful piece of music, the native of Grenoble politely clapped, which made Toshinori gaze upon her. "Bravo, _mon ami_! Bravo!" she cheered.

His freckled cheeks instantly flamed as he sensed the sincerity of her complement, and then he stood to politely bow to her as if he was on the stage in a concert hall and she was part of the audience. Once he straightened himself, he gazed into her deep blue eyes — the same shade as one of the colours of the French flag, he mused — and then his cheeks reddened even more as her considerable beauty struck him hard. Noting that, she then smiled as she walked inside, moving to sit on the other bed. "Do not be embarrassed, Toshinori-san," she said with a quite charmingly-accented voice. "You play like a maestro…and unlike Kazuo-san, you _**worked**_ hard to gain that skill." As he gently placed the violin aside, she then sighed. "You may not remember me, but I saw you at a concert in 1999 at the Human Rights Museum in Ōsaka."

He hummed. "I confess, I don't recall you, Amélie-san. I apologise for that."

A chuckle. "Oh, please! Don't apologise, _mon ami_. I…" She then frowned. "We all got the chance to read that manga people like young Tomoe have access to in this dimension. I assume that it was an accurate portrayal of your life in the flashback scenes in Chapter Sixty-five," she then wondered with an arched eyebrow.

"It was," he said as she felt an aura of shame billow from his heart. "As you might notice, I'm somewhat taller than I was back in the Republic. Mai-san explained that when the Genesis Wand analysed my old body's DNA through the dimension veil and back in time, it discovered that I suffered from a form of growth hormone deficiency."

She paled. "_Mon Dieu!_ I hope…"

"It's been dealt with. I shall not be as tall as Yoshio-san or some of the others I once despised with all my heart when we were living in Shiroiwa…but I won't be this short forever." He then smiled. "Which is quite a relief to me. I will be able to kiss Shiroko without the necessity of her bending down or me rising on my toes."

"Shōgo told me of what you accidentally did to that poor girl," she noted. "Don't be ashamed of that. From what I could sense of her when I passed the isolation ward, she forgives you. It may not be as slavish as it was when she was a cyborg…"

He paled. "They're up?!"

"Stop panicking, Toshinori! You'll do yourself an injury!"

His head then snapped around…before relief crossed his face as a demurely smiling tomboy stepped into the room, dressed now in a replicated version of the Shiroiwa Junior High School seifuku. Gazing upon Yamaguchi Shiroko — it didn't seem right to call this woman by her Niphentaxian birth name now, especially given the rounded ears peeking out from underneath her shaggy, short-cut brown hair — Amélie was quick to note she was in excellent physical shape, similar in many ways to Toshinori's own classmate Chigusa Takako. As Shiroko walked over to gently embrace her boyfriend — which nearly made Amélie laugh on seeing the other woman press the poor man's face right into her cleavage; _Then again, no man — unless he's as gay as_ Monsieur _Tsukioka — would deny himself_ that_!_ the native of Grenoble mused — the lone exchange student of the Kōbe class felt her eyes tear as her empathic powers picked up the surge of LOVE emanating from the hearts of the young violinist and his current companion for each other.

Shiroko then pulled away as she leaned down to kiss Toshinori on the lips. She then blinked on remembering they weren't alone, and then she turned to gaze on Amélie, her cheeks as red as poppies as she bowed apologetically to the other woman. "I'm sorry about that, Amélie-san!" she said as she straightened herself to gaze on the other woman…

…and then her voice caught in her throat as her beautiful chocolate brown eyes fixed on Amélie's dark blue orbs. Instantly, a flood of pure, raw passion mixed with awe, desire and longing — after the Kōbe girls had endured their Awakenings, Tomoe had taught them all via quick mind-melds on how to identify the various emotions their new powers could detect — exploded from Shiroko's heart as she stared in wide-eyed wonder at the other woman. As Toshinori backed away, his own green eyes wide with shock as his own powers picked up on that tsunami of feeling now emanating from his girlfriend because of the lovely native of Grenoble, Shiroko then bowed her head as she closed her eyes.

"I'm grateful…"

Amélie jerked. "What do you mean?!" she asked as her hand reached over.

Toshinori's hand gently grabbed her wrist before she could make contact. «Careful!»

Her head snapped around. "What…?"

«Shiroko's enduring the Awakening now, Amélie-san,» the violinist telepathically warned as Shiroko sank down onto the bed, her whole body starting to quake as she squeezed a hand over her heart. «In that state, she's very vulnerable to being forced into a _marei'cha_ bonding. She does desire you to be her bond-mate; that's rather obvious. But you certainly don't want to be _forced_ into such a thing, do you?»

Amélie blinked, and then she nodded. "Good point," she whispered as she reached over with her free hand to pat his in reassurance. As he let go, she moved to sit seiza on the deck before Shiroko as the other girl hugged herself, squeezing her eyes shut to dam the tears now flowing from them. After a moment of harsh breaths and choked sobs, the Niphentaxian-turned-Terran-form Avalonian then gasped out in relief as she seemed to collapse on herself. Instantly, Toshinori moved to let her lie down on the bed as Amélie rose. "I'll get Shōgo!" she stated as she moved to leave.

"**_DON'T LEAVE ME!_**"

The native of Grenoble gargled on hearing Shiroko's pained shriek…as running footsteps heralded the arrival of Kawada Shōgo. "What's wrong?!" he demanded.

"Both the Awakening and the urge forcing her to select her prospective _marei'cha_ hitting her all at once, Shōgo-san!" Toshinori stated as Amélie moved out of her classmate's way as he moved to hold the focusing crystal of the Genesis Wand of Parah over her heart. "She…"

"It's alright," Shōgo advised after a second's "look" with the Wand deep into Shiroko's heart before he sat down close to her legs. "She's okay," he then assured the others. "Don't run anywhere, Amé. She'll get over this…but she needs to have you close by while she's getting better control over herself." A shrug. "Still…"

"We will become _marei'cha_ sooner or later," Amélie finished with a wry smile.

Shōgo nodded. "Doubt you'd want to be given the perfect girlfriend — AND boyfriend since Toshi here comes with the package — on a silver platter like this. Eh?"

A chuckle. "_Oui!_" Amélie stated as she sat down on the other bed. "Was it the same for Shō-san when he learned of Shigeki-san's interest in him?"

"Pretty much so, my dear," a familiar voice called out from the hallway. "And I will say this to you, Shiroko-chan: A truly beautiful choice for your bond-mate."

"Aren't you supposed to be GAY, Shō?!" Shōgo demanded.

Laughter filled the room. "The price we pay for being _homosexual_ in heart…yet _**bisexual**_ in body, Shōgo-san," a bright, almost girlish voice said from the hallway as a smiling, effeminate man in a Shiroiwa boy's gakuran stepped into the room.

"Shigeki-san," Toshinori said as he walked over to embrace Fujino Shigeki.

The two held each other close for a moment, and then Shigeki leaned down to kiss Toshinori — the former stood 156 centimetres high while the latter was at least five centimetres shorter — on the cheek before he pulled away to allow Shō to take him into his arms. Watching the two "straight" Shiroiwa boys, Amélie was quick to sense that neither Shōgo nor Toshinori was bothered by Shigeki's actions…which made the native of Grenoble nod in understanding. No doubt, given that all the Shiroiwa boys had spent a little over a month in their new bodies and adjusting to their current circumstances — not to mention get over what happened to them on Oki-shima — the idea of spending time close to two such openly gay men didn't make them blink anymore.

Everyone then tensed on feeling a surge of raw LOVE flow past them from a nearby room. "Oh, my!" Shō breathed out. "I do believe that's the first of your old classmates, Shōgo-kun. Lucky for Minami-chan and Kimiko-chan that Kazuo-kun works fast."

"Well, I'm sure that some of the other girls in our group might seek to pursue him when they get to know him much better," Amélie stated.

"Advise everyone to NOT touch him, though," Shōgo then stated.

His former classmate perked. "Why?"

"A fear Kazuo-san has, Amélie-san," Toshinori explained. "Fear of losing control over his heart. Yes, he has stupendous control over his powers and he likes to remain in control over them, but his defences can be overwhelmed if you catch him off-guard."

Amélie blinked, and then she nodded…

* * *

Nearby…

"You okay, Boss?"

Kiriyama Kazuo breathed out as he stood on the glade close to the open hatchway of the warp-sloop that had brought the Kōbe girls to the Planet of Shadows. "It's still quite hard for me, Ryūhei," he said as he gazed on Sasagawa Ryūhei. "To you, such emotions are so easy to express and understand. For me, after all those years…"

The blond, grey-eyed member of Kazuo's gang from Shiroiwa nodded. "Yeah, man." He then blinked. "Wouldn't it be freaky if one of the girls — our girls, that is — actually had a crush on you, though?" As Kazuo stared wide-eyed at his friend, the other man shrugged. "They know the whole story about you, Boss. Shū and Shō both sensed it from Yukie and Mizuho. You've seen what girls are like when they learn about someone that's been badly hurt. You didn't really realise that you were hurt after your accident; that's bound to win sympathy from the girls." He then took a deep breath. "And given that we're all Avalonians now…"

"With the genetic predisposition to view all forms of mistreatment or abandonment of children as something that must be harshly punished," he finished.

"Damn straight!" Ryūhei affirmed with a nod. "And it does make sense when you get down to it. Where the fuck WAS your dad after your mom died?! He got remarried…"

"But effectively removed himself from directly raising me after the Bad Thing…"

Ryūhei nodded, trying desperately not to leap up and down in joy, much less grin with delight; the Boss would understand that sort of reaction but didn't want to have it demonstrated right to his face. Still, it was another good sign that Kazuo was slowly crawling back from the emotionless hell a drunk driver effectively slammed him into when he was six, killing his mother Kimiyo. Hearing the term "Bad Thing" from Kazuo was a hint that the child who had smiled, laughed and loved with a heart the size of China — even for someone so young — was trying to adopt to the new set of circumstances his older-self was now facing. After nine years of the "endless grey" — as Kazuo had termed it — he now had a brain that didn't have damaged glands which put the brakes on his being able to emote. And for understandable reasons, that _**scared**_ the other man.

For Sasagawa Ryūhei — as well as Numai Mitsuru, Kuronaga Hiroshi and Tsukioka Shō — the demands of _giri_ that locked their destinies with Kiriyama Kazuo in their first year of middle school made the choice simple: _**No one**_ would be allowed to hurt the Boss!

And deep in his re-awakening heart, Kazuo deeply appreciated his friends' continued loyalty even after what he had done to them on Oki-shima.

"I wonder how they got over what happened in _The Program_," Kazuo noted.

Ryūhei perked. "The girls?"

A nod. "Hai."

A sigh as the blond street kid pulled out a cigarette to light it up. "According to Shū — he got it from Yukie — they all had a big sob-fest when it finally hit them. They're getting over it. Don't know if the whole _marei'cha_ thing's started up with them, though…"

A hum. "I best see if I can try to learn some things."

"Don't go too crazy, Boss."

A light smile crossed Kazuo's face. "Lucky I have you all watching out for me."

Ryūhei smirked. "We ain't going nowhere, Boss…"

* * *

Somewhere…

She had no idea how long ago she had woken up.

There was no clock or any other visible timepiece she could see.

It was very dark in this place.

Wherever this was.

Fortunately for her, it wasn't total pitch-black.

She was grateful for that.

The details she could pick out were few, though…

Wherever this place was, it was quite large. Far bigger than any place she had ever been in before…and being the wife of one of Shikoku's richest men, she had been to quite a lot of places across the Greater East Asia Republic.

A hangar of some type?

But a hangar for WHAT…?

Would someone come and try to explain things to her?

She did have many questions to ask.

One: What was she doing being made to stand inside some sort of TUBE?!

Two: Why was she dressed in a VERY skin-tight jumpsuit of some sort?!

Three: Why was the tube she was in pressurised to keep her from moving?!

And four…

**_What in the name of the Kami was this strange MIST inside her own BRAIN?!_**

Everything she tried to do to make WHATEVER it was all vanish…

…it just STAYED there inside her mind…

Not even the hangover she endured at the end of her last year of middle school — when those people who had NOT been called up to participate in _The Program_ always threw a private party for escaping being forced to "perform their solemn civic duty;" such a practice was grossly frowned upon by the authorities, but it happened anyway — when she got herself very good and drunk was as bad as WHATEVER this was in her head now…

She then gasped as a small flash of red light appeared in the near distance.

"Is someone there?!" she then called out.

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

"_You — are — ac-ti-va-ted._"

She blinked. Mechanical voice, but female sounding…

_A machine of some sort?!_ she wondered before shaking her head. "Yes! Can I be let out of this thing?!" she then called out into the darkness.

Silence fell for a moment…and then she gasped as dim lights flicked on, allowing her to gaze upon what seemed to be a weird mixture of medical examination room with some sort of science lab. A slow glance around — she was grateful that she could move her head to either side a bit — revealed that the equipment her tube was within a VERY big hangar-like space, far bigger than any airplane hangar. She also could make out other man-sized tubes in the near darkness, all filled with what looked like young women…though thanks to the low light, she couldn't make details.

"_The — u-nit — is — to — be — re-moved — from — the — ges-ta-tion — cham-ber._"

She gasped as hydraulics sounded off and the whole room fell away from her…and then she relaxed on realising the tube she had woken up in was being lowered onto its back. A second after that was done, the sound of a hatch opening echoed from below. Hands — hands that felt human — gently grasped her above her ankles and she was pulled slowly out. Sensing the pressure on her body disappear as she was pulled out of the tube, she then relaxed as she felt those hands — two people were helping her — shift her to lie down on a gurney of some sort. As she took a deep breath of relief to relax herself, she then turned to gaze on who had just got her out of that tube.

Two women — twin sisters by the looks of them — appearing in their mid-twenties if her guess was right, bearing black hair styled in a chin-length crop, dressed in a form-fitting black jumpsuits with a gold ring insignia on their left breasts, that insignia having compass points and what appeared to be a humanoid figure of some sort in a high diving-type pose…and their eyes were covered with very dark glasses.

_Night-vision devices?!_ she wondered to herself as she felt a slow surge of strength flood her limbs, and then she moved to sit up on the gurney. Taking a moment to note that her body was a little stiff, she then turned to gaze on the two nurses — as they seemed to be to her — standing to either side of her. Noting that neither of them had reacted to her movement, she then stopped as she stared at one, and then the other.

No movement at all.

"Hello!" she called out as she moved to wave her hands in front of the woman to her left. Noting no reaction, she then reached over to touch her shoulder. "Hello!"

Suddenly, eyes seemed to appear behind those glasses as the woman turned to look at her. "What function would you desire this unit to perform, Goshujin-sama?" she asked in a clipped yet still quite normal tone, speaking Japanese with a Tōkyō accent.

She blinked as she considered that for a moment, and then her jaw dropped as a dim memory of a particular classic _Star Trek_ episode came to her.

_Oh, my heavens…!_ she gasped as realisation dawned. _I knew technology was advancing fast, but I never thought it would create something like_ this_…!_

"Are you…androids?" she then asked.

"Affirmative." That was both the "nurses" who were helping her, she realised.

Taking a moment to absorb that, she then hummed as she gazed up and down the nurse to her left. The jumpsuit was a front-opening affair that zipped all the way down to her crotch, flaring out into a polo shirt-like collar at her neck. Reaching up to the zipper, she then pulled it down. Noting the nurse wasn't reacting to having her body — which had no undergarment beneath the jumpsuit, she noted — exposed like this, she pulled the zipper down past the navel. Stopping there, she then felt around until her fingertips picked up on what appeared to be the edges of a circuit hatch of some sort.

_Well, there's the proof_, she mused to herself. "Who constructed you?"

The nurse then focused on her. "This unit and her sister units were constructed in the Kutzei Companion Droid Facility in the urban agglomeration of the same name on the planet Zeiwan," she answered, her voice suddenly taking a more human-like tone. "We are programmed to assist in the awakening of any Avalonian-model biological android which is templated and awoken within this facility. What function would you desire this unit to perform, Goshujin-sama?" she then asked as a friendly smile crossed her face.

She blinked as she took that in…and then she paled. "Wait! Are you saying you were built on ANOTHER PLANET?!" she then gasped as her blue eyes widened.

"Affirmative, Goshujin-sama."

After taking a moment to consider that, she blinked. "And what is an…'Avalonian-model biological android?'" she then asked as a cold chill filled her heart.

"An Avalonian-model biological android is an artificially-created, fully-organic sentient being that can be constructed from either a unique DNA pattern code or cloned from a naturally-occurring DNA pattern code." The nurse then blinked as a faint chime echoed from somewhere close to her. "You were constructed in the latter format, Goshujin-sama. No doubt to return you back to proper function after the automobile accident that would have terminated your life functions occurred."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

"I…should be…DEAD?!" she croaked out.

"Had not the Guardians moved to use the _Haijo-ju_ to preserve your living spirit and bring you to a place where you could be restored to proper function, you would have permanently…ceased to function, Goshujin-sama," the nurse behind her stated, bowing her head in sympathy to the just-woken bioroid's plight.

Hearing that, a pained gasp escaped her as she felt the strength in her body suddenly fade. Before she could fall off the gurney, the nurses lunged in to snare her and move to let her lie down without allowing her to be harmed. As her mind felt the wild mixture of shock, horror and relief that normally hits when someone has a near-death experience, she began to shudder. "Wh-why am I h-here?" she sputtered out. "Wh-why…?"

"We cannot answer that question, Goshujin-sama," the nurse to her right stated. "However, you are functional now and we are programmed to serve you in whatever way you would desire to make yourself more comfortable. Please remain calm, Goshujin-sama."

As the soothing nature of her voice settled in, she then slowly nodded before an amused chuckle escaped her. "I can't believe it…Western tabloids talk about 'close encounters with the third kind' all the time and all that…and I'm actually with ALIENS?!" She began to laugh before she felt the nurses' hands grasp hers. Surprised and touched by such a human show of support from beings she clearly realized were no different than the various androids that appeared in several _Star Trek_ episodes, she then relaxed herself. "Why was I saved, then?" she wondered. "I mean…"

"Goshujin-sama, your name is 'Kiriyama Kimiyo,' correct?" the nurse to her left asked.

She blinked, and then she nodded. "Hai…"

"The last group of people to obtain un-templated Avalonian-model biological android bodies from this facility were on a quest to restore your son, Kiriyama Kazuo, to life," the nurse to her right stated. "While we were not programmed as to the exact circumstances concerning your living spirit being brought here — we were deactivated at the time of their visit, but this facility's central computer did record the visit of the group seeking to restore your son to proper function — but you are here now and we must serve you to the best of our programming and abilities. No doubt, that same group which obtained the un-templated biological android bodies wished also to ensure that your son would be reunited with you, Goshujin-sama."

Kimiyo took a moment to absorb THAT bombshell landing on her head…and then she paled. "My baby…what happened to my baby?! _**WHAT HAPPENED TO HIM?!**_"

Both nurses looked contrite. "We were not programmed with that information, Goshujin-sama," the one to her left said as they frowned. "We are sorry…"

Kimiyo blinked before her eyes teared. "My baby…!"

* * *

Over forty thousand light-years away…

"Okā-san…?"

* * *

Hearing that voice echo deep in her mind, Kimiyo perked before she looked around. "_**WHO SAID THAT?!**_" she cried out as she tried to detect the source of that sound.

Both nurses seemed to blink. "We did not hear anyone speak, Goshujin-sama," the nurse that Kimiyo had partially undressed answered. "Did you hear something?"

«Okā-san?»

Kimiyo gasped again…and then she blinked as the word spoken sank in.

"Kazuo-chan…?"

«Okā-san!»

Both nurses seemed to blink. "Goshujin-sama, are you in telepathic communication with your son?" the nurse Kimiyo had moved to undress then asked.

"I…!"

«Answer 'hai,' Okā-san!» that voice in her mind urged.

"…H-h-hai…!"

She then jolted on feeling comforting hands on her shoulders. Gasping, she turned to see the two nurses at her side. "Calm down, Goshujin-sama," the other nurse urged.

"**_Foolish robot…YOU WILL OBEY THE WILL OF THE GODDESS!_**"

Kimiyo gargled in shock on hearing that hissed voice from off to her right as a beacon of bright light appeared in the darkness, revealling a hunchbacked humanoid figure. It seemed to be holding what appeared to be a metal torch of some sort…but with a glowing crystal about the size of a rugby football in lieu of a flame as the source of the radiance it was producing. As she gargled in horror on seeing that man, the voice of her son bellowed deep within her mind, «_**OKĀ-SAN! SEIZE THE TORCH! SEIZE IT NOW!**_»

Before she could actually think it through, she lunged away from the nurses, racing at the cackling figure threatening her. A look of comic surprise then crossed his face as she seemed to loom right in his face, her hands reaching out to snare his weapon…

**_Sagussan genotype identified. New controller acknowledged._**

"**_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…!_**" the old man wailed…

…before a burst of light sent him flying AWAY from Kimiyo to crash onto the floor in a heap of broken bones and torn flesh several metres from her. She yelped in shock as that brilliant explosion of power nearly blinded her…and then she blinked in shock as her eyes returned to normal, adjusting to the bright radiance of energy pumping out from the device she had just grabbed hold of. Taking a moment to catch her breath as she wondered how on Earth she had been able to MOVE so fast, she then turned as the two nurses moved to stand close to her, both of them focusing on the still figure nearby. Feeling grateful for their presence, Kimiyo then blushed. "Um…"

"What is it, Goshujin-sama?" both nurses asked.

She jolted, and then she sighed. "What are your names?"

"We do not have names, Goshujin-sama," they answered.

A moan. "Right…" she groaned out. "Kazuo…"

«Be calm, Okā-san,» that wonderful voice echoed in her mind.

"What's going on here…?" she demanded.

A sigh then echoed in her mind. «That is a very long story, Okā-san.»

Kimiyo moaned…

* * *

And back on the Planet of Shadows…

"Boss! What's wrong?! Are you okay?! BOSS!"

The door to Kazuo's private cabin aboard the warp-sloop whooshed open to allow a wide-eyed Ryūhei to look inside. He was quick to see the look of teary-eyed, stunned SHOCK on his gang leader's face. "BOSS!" Ryūhei croaked out in apprehension.

Kazuo turned to stare wide-eyed at his friend.

"My mother's alive, Ryūhei…"

On hearing _**that**_, the other man's jaw dropped in disbelief…

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

1) Translations: **Jōnin** — Senior-rank ninja; **Tajimamori** — The god of _wagashi_ (traditional Japanese confectionary served with tea, such as **mochi** [glutinous rice cake] or **taiyaki** [fish-shaped, red bean paste-filled cake]); **A.U.C.** — Short for **Ab Urbe Condita**, which literally means "From the founding of the City (of Rome)," this is the Roman year-numbering phrase used to mark dates in their calendar system, which is based on the year the Eternal City itself was reported to have been founded in 753 B.C.E.; **Mon ami** — My (male) friend.

2) The concepts that would eventually coalesce into the character of **Moroboshi Hiromi** (**Ryūkō Kyōrei**) first appeared at the Anime Addventure (my pen-name there is "Gorgo") in the _Faking It - Great Guardians_ storyline. I would later revise the character in the _Restart Deluge - The Emperor's Army_ storyline before having Hiromi become one of the primary characters in _Phoenix From the Ashes_. Her origins — as well as the origins of Moroboshi Ataru's true twin sister, **Moroboshi Tariko** — are explained in part 1 of _PFtA_. **Moroboshi Negako**, of course, is a character straight from _The Senior Year_; in disembodied format, she first appeared in the story "Spirit-War Tomobiki" and would achieve physical form in the side story "Children of Eternity." Negako has always been one of the primary supporting characters in many of my other stories since that time.

3) **Sebone Shikuko** (**Ryofu Hōsen**) and **Noberu Miyako** (**Chinkyū Kōdai**) are two of the more tragic characters from the _Ikkitōsen_ series. The former of the pair first appeared in manga episode #9 while the latter first appeared in episode #19. Both girls would die at the end of manga episode #35 thanks to Shikuko suffering from **amyotrophic lateral sclerosis** (**ALS**, known as "**Lou Gehrig's disease**" in North America) and Miyako's willingness to die alongside the woman she loved. In _PFtA_, both girls were spared from their fate thanks to Moroboshi Ataru making a promise to Shikuko's cousin **Uneme Nozomi** (a character who appeared in the _Yatsura_ manga story "The Final Date" [manga episode #246]; Nozomi's family name and her relationship to Shikuko are my invention). Both Shikuko and Miyako found themselves transformed into Avalonians in part 11 of _PFtA_; though this happened thanks to a lethal attack launched by rogue tōshi on them, the fact that Ataru was more than willing to do anything to save Shikuko from the ravages of ALS won him both hers and Miyako's eternal loyalty. Because of that, both Shikuko and Miyako transferred from Rakuyō Senior High School to Tomobiki High School starting in the fall term of the former's third year of high school and the latter's second.

For those who might be familiar with the video games based on _Ikkitōsen_ — _Shining Dragon_ (a PlayStation 2 game released in 2007), _Eloquent Fist_ (a PlayStation Portable game released in 2008) and _Xcross Impact_ (a PlayStation Portable game released in 2010) — the "three sizes" (breasts, waist and hips) physical measurements attributed to Shikuko are always listed as 91-58-90 centimetres (35.8-22.8-35.4 inches). I decided to round it off to 36-23-35 in American measurements; the actual cup size is my own invention, but given how Shikuko has been portrayed in the various anime series…!

As an aside, the phrase "Mightiest Warrior Alive" is based on how **Lǚ Bù** often describes himself in the various _Dynasty Warriors_ video games released by Koei over the last few years.

4) **Soban** first appeared in the _Yatsura_ manga storyline "Duel of Courage" (manga episodes #233-234). He is the "big boss" leader of the primary boy gang from Butsumetsu High School, which — given its name — is the unluckiest high school in all of Tomobiki. He also has a massive obsession towards **Miyake Shinobu**, chasing after her at any opportunity and screaming out "_Shinobu-san, suki da!_" (literally "Miss Shinobu, I love you!") at the top of his lungs. Unfortunately for him, he never can get anywhere with Shinobu; her normal response to his advances is to sock him straight into lower Earth orbit.

5) The word **Amenoukihashi** literally means "Floating Bridge of Heaven." This is the bridge that connects Heaven and Earth in the earliest tales of Japanese myth; it was from the Amenoukihashi that the youngest couple of the first generation of kami, **Izanagi-no-mikoto** and his sister/wife **Izanami-no-mikoto**, used the **Amenonuhoko** ("heavenly-jewelled spear") naginata to cultivate the first island to rise from the sea, **Onogoro-shima**. This name was, in the universe of this story, given to a former Niphentaxian space factory station that was taken over by the nation's aerospace agency, the **Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency** (**JAXA**), as the government's primary space equipment factory. Amenoukihashi Station is located in a stable geosynchronous orbit which reaches a point approximately 35,000 kilometres (15,538 miles) directly over the Imperial Palace in Tōkyō at 12:00 PM JST every day.

6) The **HyperNet** (a contraction of the term "**hyperwarp internet**") is the Avalonian mesonium-powered version of the World Wide Web. The average transmission speed for the HyperNet is Warp 15 (759,375 times the speed of light…or about 227,654,897,793.75 kilometres per second [141,457,893,750 miles per second]); to give one an idea of how fast this might be, one **parsec** (which is 3.26156 light-years) measures approximately 30,857,000,000,000 kilometres (19,177,750,155,376 miles), which means that a ship travelling at Warp 15 would traverse that distance in two minutes and 15.54 seconds. Thanks in part to its transmission speed, data download limits do not exist on the HyperNet. All Avalonian communications systems work through this network, including everything that can be directly accessed by a **dataPADD** (literally "**data Personal Archival Display Device**").

7) Luna Lovegood is quite notorious for speaking about very fantastic creatures whose existence — for the most part — could not be proven by magical researchers in Britain. However, one creature that was proven to exist was the **wrackspurt**, which is an invisible creature that — upon inserting itself through a human's ear canal — makes their brains "go fuzzy" (to quote Luna from _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_), thus hampering a person's ability to think clearly. While a "wrackspurt plague" over Britain seems quite unlikely, the fact that — as demonstrated in the _Harry Potter_ books — the magicals of that land seemed to have literally frozen themselves in time in many ways certainly justifies Sebone Shikuko's comment about how much damage the **International Statue of Wizarding Secrecy** (the basic law that governs magical-normal relations, which was first written in 1689 and fully adopted in Britain three years later) may have inadvertently done to the "wizarding world" in the long term.

As an aside, many of the other creatures Luna believed in — the **crumple-horned snorkack**, for example — actually DO exist in the universe of this story…but such beings are native to **Nerio** (the _Mundus Magicus_ from _Mahō Sensei Negima_) and not Earth.

8) **François Joseph Gossec** (1734-1829) was a French composer of operas, string quartets, symphonies and choral works during the **Classical Period** of music (which is normally dated by most historians as between 1750-1820). Not as well known as his Germanic contemporaries such as **Joseph Haydn** (1732-1809), **Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart** (1756-91) or **Ludwig van Beethoven** (1770-1827), Gossec was seen as quite the innovator for his time; when he scored his famous _Te Deum_ in 1779, the music was designed to be sung by **twelve hundred** singers and **three hundred** woodwind instruments. For his work in music — especially for his composing songs for the French Revolution — Gossec was made one of the first _chevaliers_ (knights) of the **Légion d'Honneur** after it was introduced in 1802.

The _Gavotte in D Major_ would be quite familiar to many American animation fans as the composer **Carl Stalling** (1891-1972) used it as part of the background scores for many _Looney Tunes_ and _Merry Melodies_ cartoon shorts produced by Warner Brothers. The concept of the **gavotte** itself first appeared in various French folk dances performed by the Gavot people in the old **Dauphiné** province of France…in whose original territory the Department of **Isère** (from where Amélie de Beauharnais comes from) is currently located.

9) The **Ōsaka Human Rights Museum** — also known as **Liberty Ōsaka** — is a museum located in that city's Naniwa Ward which is dedicated to the suffering of the various disadvantaged peoples who have lived in Japan over the years such as the Ainu, the Burakumin, the Koreans who were forced to live in Japan and the handicapped. In the universe of the Greater East Asia Republic, this museum — which would not have its English language-based second title — would serve as the same type of memorial, but also emphasise the horrors of "Christian Western imperialism" on the peoples of the Orient.

10) As indicated above, _Battle Royale_ manga episode #65, titled "Oda Toshinori," serves as an excellent background story to the physically shortest member of Class 3B, **Oda Toshinori**.

As an aside, Toshinori's height is not given in the manga; the measurement of 151 centimetres (4 feet 11 inches) was chosen by me when I decided to explain his unusual shortness as being induced thanks to **growth hormone deficiency**, where the body's pituitary gland (located near the base of the brain, though not part of the brain itself) cannot produce enough of the necessary hormones — called **somatropin** — to stimulate physical growth in the body. His suffering this illness, by the way, is my invention.

11) The "**Bad Thing**" — the car accident that killed **Kiriyama Kazuo**'s mother when he was a child — was shown in detail in the manga story "God's Child" (manga episode #110).

As an aside, Kazuo's mother was never named in the _BR_ manga. The name **Kiriyama Kimiyo** is my invention.

12) **Giri** is the Japanese value concept that could be translated as "duty," "obligation" or "burden of obligation." When applied to the feelings the members of Kiriyama Kazuo's gang — especially **Numai Mitsuru** and **Sasagawa Ryūhei** — concerning Kazuo himself, _giri_ can be easily demonstrated by what was shown in the background scene in the manga story "Kiriyama Kazuo (Part One)" (manga episode #9). There, Kazuo — who was studying in the Shiroiwa Junior High School library one day in his first year when Mitsuru and Ryūhei were being beaten up by seniors — used knowledge he just obtained from an anatomy book to badly cripple the attacking seniors. As Mitsuru effectively noted at the start of the narrative of the following story, "Kiriyama Kazuo (Part Two)," "I serve Kiriyama Kazuo." Thus, the whole concept of _giri_ could be described in this phrase: "**To serve one's superiors with a self-sacrificing devotion**."

13) The planet **Zeiwan** — an allied world of Uru's — was first introduced in _The Senior Year_ story "Darling's Other Girlfriend."


	7. Summoning the Dragonspeaker

Tomobiki, near the Moroboshi home, a half-hour after suppertime…

"Um…it's weird…!"

"Pretty intimidating, too…"

"Good position for a machine gun, though…"

"People are going to just _stare_ at that…"

"That makes it perfect!"

People blinked, and then they gazed wide-eyed at Ataru. The Shiroiwa girls and their companions were now standing on Kita-Teibō 4-dōri, the street that once passed to the east side of the square city block that housed the old Moroboshi home at its northeast corner. Said street now ended at a gate and high stone fence which was flush to the north side of Nishi-Teibō 9-dōri, the street bordering on the south side of the block designated "Tomobiki 4-chōme 13-ban" on property records in Nishitōkyō city hall.

As Ataru knew so well thanks to his mother often moaning about the bad luck of having an address that had the numbers "4" (twice) and "13" within it, the old Moroboshi home was given the actual house number "4-gō," the old guest house where Ataru's sister and her extended family currently resided had been designated "1-gō," the old Ryōki home that had been demolished to make way for the Moroboshi Dōjō had been "3-gō" and the southwest house — which had been demolished to make way for a open-air practice area for the dōjō — was "2-gō." When the whole block came under the ownership of Moroboshi Negako in March, the total number of mailing addresses was dropped to two: "3-gō" (for Negako, Ataru, Tariko and Hiromi) and "4-gō" (for Ataru's parents Muchi and Kinshō). That arrangement still effectively existed even after the three standing structures on the land of 13-ban were all united together as one building in the early part of July.

Ataru still smiled at the memory of the temper-tantrum his mother had thrown back in April when she learned that mail directed to him was properly addressed to "Tōkyō-to, Nishitōkyō-shi, Tomobiki 4-chōme 13-ban _**3**_-gō, Moroboshi Ataru-shi."

Naturally, the mailbox for the Moroboshi siblings — which was posted to the left of the dōjō gates on the west side of the block when one was entering — had been blood ki-warded to ensure that only Negako or her siblings could open the box to retrieve what mail had been delivered.

Kinshō had nearly burned her hands off _**ten**_ times before she stopped trying to look inside the mailbox to see who was sending mail to her children.

Even worse — to Ataru's mother — the mailman assigned to their part of Tomobiki after March (as privately arranged by Negako while her siblings were busy on the bioroid factory) was a Terran-form Avalonian named Togawa Kiyomi. She — who had, before the Liberation, been made to work for Japan Post at the local post office in the "holy city" by her Niphentaxian master so the Church of Lum could monitor the passage of any missives entering and leaving the Goddess' Holy Residence — simply wouldn't HEAR of allowing such an abusive woman to lay her dirty hands on mail addressed to one of the Great Liberators of her people. Most of those letters — much to the shock of people who lived in Tomobiki when rumours of such communications began leaking out in early March thanks to Negako (who came to the house every day to pick up the mail; she read the names of the writers aloud when she knew people were listening in) — were from people OUTSIDE Tomobiki expressing their thanks to Ataru for finally driving the Urusians off Earth…as well as their admiration for his helping liberate the Avalonians. Their sufferings were headline news across the planet thanks to the efforts of networks such as CNN, the BBC and NHK; reporters who travelled to the bioroid factory in March to report what was going on there **_always_** focused on Ataru's tireless efforts to help just-liberated slaves recover from their ordeal. Such actions were the polar opposite of what people INSIDE Tomobiki adamantly claimed — even during the time he was getting such good press on NHK — was "normal" for Moroboshi Ataru.

As Sakurayama Momoko, the NHK Tōkyō reporter who got the chance to do an in-depth interview with Ataru aboard the bioroid factory near the end of his stay there — "At least _here_, I can talk without morons who can't see Reality if it was explained to them in single-syllable words butting in," Ataru commented in that interview — eventually concluded, if making the people of Tomobiki look like blind, stupid fools to the outside world was his idea of revenge, it was truly well thought out.

As she WAS an Avalonian-Japanese who had just been freed from slavery, Togawa Kiyomi was granted the right to carry a Lawgiver pistol for self-defence by the National Police Agency. To ensure that people couldn't complain about something like that — not that most Japanese government officials _**would**_ complain given that with the migration of THIRTY MILLION Avalonian-Japanese into the country, the "population implosion" doom-sayers predicted would befall the nation had been deftly averted — she was an auxiliary officer for the Nishitōkyō office of the Tōkyō Metropolitan Police Department. Because of that, Kiyomi had to use her sidearm _**twenty**_ times before Kinshō finally got the message slammed into her thick skull that her son's mail was to be left alone. Of course, each time Kiyomi "punished" Ataru's mother for her snoopiness had been in front of nosy neighbours — with the proper insults delivered to the hideous monster for simply not minding her own business, of course — which just made it worse for Ataru's mother.

Bringing himself back to reality — reluctantly, though; memories of seeing his idiot mother suffering always made Ataru smile — he hummed. "Town planners are going to have a ball trying to figure this out," he mused as he walked through the gate.

From his position, he noted that the part of the street that passed between 13-ban and 14-ban to the east had been totally removed, replaced by fresh soil and a grass lawn. The four houses located in 14-ban were now conjoined together in a west-to-east facing "H" block, with the central wing being big enough to provide bedroom space for all of any of the three classes of _Program_ survivors soon to live there. The northwest house of 14-ban — once having possessed the house number "3-gō" — had been conjoined face-to-face with the old Moroboshi home so that the new residence was now part of the overall structure. A T-shaped stone walkway covered by a canopy connected the old southeast house of 14-ban to the old guest house on 13-ban, thus allowing visitors coming here to remain under cover in case of inclement weather. A glance towards the new connecting wing where Ataru and his twin sister Tariko now lived revealed that a new eastward-extending addition had been added to the latter's bedroom, that above a new extension to the living room the Moroboshi siblings had all to themselves. The section of Nishi-Teibō 9-dōri that passed south of 14-ban was closed off and transformed into a grass lawn; the width of the new property was enough to allow new residence wings to be added as required. The part of Nishi-Teibō 9-dōri that passed south of 13-ban was also closed off midway between Kita-Teibō 4-dōri and Kita-Teibō 5-dōri to the west, a small gate placed there with the sign for the Moroboshi Dōjō posted to one side.

A glance off to the west revealed that the lawn had been extended quite a bit beyond the line of Kita-Teibō 5-dōri, which told Ataru that Negako had acquired the two empty houses in the eastern half of 12-ban to the west of 13-ban. Further, the lawn extended south past the road clearance of Nishi-Teibō 9-dōri. Realising that, Ataru smirked. Negako hadn't liked the cramped size of the open-air exercise area south of the dōjō and wanted the chance to extend it. No doubt, with the presence of the _Program_ players in their home, the ninjutsu grandmaster elected to obtain the empty properties at the northwest corner of 6-ban (which was directly south of 13-ban) and the northeast corner of 5-ban (directly south of 12-ban), then had all the buildings there levelled.

Nodding in appreciation — it didn't make the expanded Moroboshi property the equal of either the Mendō or Mizunokōji estates by any stretch of the imagination, but it was nice and roomy — he then gazed on the feature that had elicited comments from all the escorts just now: A _**lighthouse**_ of all things, at least twenty metres high from ground level to the tip of the apex of the lantern room, stabbing up right from the site of the street just to the south of where the front gate to the old Moroboshi home was located. Lining the south, east and west faces of the lighthouse from the level of the roof of the new connecting wing to just below the lamp room were glass windows, curtains closing off whatever was inside those rooms from outside view.

_Baka Kā-san is just going to_ **hate** _having that looming right over "her" house_, he mused to himself as a churlish smile crossed his face. _Too bad…!_

"Hey! Everyone's back!"

He turned as Tariko stepped out of the front door to the old guest house, accompanied by a grinning Miyake Shinobu. "Did you have this put in?" Ataru asked as he thumbed the lighthouse that now clearly marked where the Moroboshi home was from almost anywhere in Tomobiki save for anywhere downtown or in places south of it.

"No, Ayami-chan suggested it," Tariko stated before she gazed over to see a chorus of stunned looks emanating from the Shiroiwa girls. "Oh, hell…"

Silence fell as people gazed upon the twenty-one girls from another dimension as they looked on the lighthouse…which was modelled perfectly after the one on Oki-shima where Utsumi Yukie, Sakaki Yūko, Tanizawa Haruka, Nakagawa Yūka, Noda Satomi and Matsui Chisato had fallen. All of them were frozen still, totally quiet as their memories of that awful time replayed yet again in their minds…and then they relaxed as they all turned to gaze on Nakagawa Noriko. The _ashi'cha_ of their group blinked on sensing their questioning looks, and then she sighed, nodding in acceptance. "A reminder."

The others nodded. "To never forget," Yukie said as she grasped her lover's hand.

"Never forget," the others solemnly chanted.

Hearing that, Ataru and Tariko exchanged a relieved look…before they perked on hearing footsteps from the old guest house. "Onē-chan, all of your parents' belongings were shifted to the new bedroom on the main floor," Hakaru Ayami announced before she stopped on seeing the small crowd standing there. "Oh, minna-san!"

Satomi nodded towards the lighthouse. "Ayami-san, did you put that here?!"

A nod. "Hai." A knowing look then crossed her face as she walked over to gently slip her arm around Yūka's waist, which made the stocky girl with the bright blue eyes and the raven-black hair in two high ponytails perk. "Would you like a look around?"

"We have to do it, Ayami," Shimizu Hirono stated. "If it doesn't have the Yūka Seal of Approval, there's no way in hell that we can live in a place like this!"

The others all laughed before they were waved into the guest house. After the shoes were taken off in the genkan, they walked through the living room to the new extension under Tariko's bedroom. "The stairs here are flush to the east wall of the old house; the kitchen window was filled in," Ayami stated as she pointed out details. "The north wall here is parallel to the walkway leading from the old front gate to the front door, then runs out to the middle of the street before turning north and heading to the north side of Nishi-Teibō 10-dōri, which is now the north side of the expanded property."

"How many streets got closed off?" Satomi asked as she looked around.

"Well, as of now, both Kita-Teibō 4-dōri and Kita-Teibō 5-dōri are dead-end streets south of Nishi-Teibō 11-dōri and north of Nishi-Teibō 8-dōri," Ayami answered as she pointed to the north, and then the south. "Nishi-Teibō 10-dōri and Nishi-Teibō 9-dōri are totally closed off from between Kita-Teibō 6-dōri and Kita-Teibō 3-dōri. All the houses that once lay on Nishi-Teibō 10-dōri and Nishi-Teibō 9-dōri that are still occupied had their property expanded to include their side of the street itself."

"That makes my family property an immediate neighbour," Shinobu added.

"Where are you at?" Hirono asked.

"Tomobiki 4-chōme 5-ban 3-gō. Northwest house of the block," Tariko's lover answered.

"Kumiko-chan lives just to the north of Shinobu-chan's house," Ataru added. "Her family address is Tomobiki 4-chōme 12-ban 2-gō."

"And there are new gates connecting the Miyake and Gekasawa properties to the expanded lawn to the south and west of the dōjō," Ayami added as she gave Tariko a knowing look. "Which will definitely make things much easier for certain people."

Tariko and Shinobu blushed as everyone else laughed. "What about the foundation of the lighthouse here?" Satomi asked as she pointed to the east wall, which had a noticeable curved bulge that corresponded to the high tower that was now part of the property. Right in the middle of that bulge was a steel door with a wheel handle right in the middle, no different than what might be found at the entrance to a bank vault.

"Fusion generator room; the whole property is no longer connected to the city power grid. Atop that, the whole structure has been re-fitted with central heating, so there's no need for space heaters," Ayami answered with a knowing smirk. "Surrounding the foundation of the lighthouse on the south, east and north sides to help keep things cool are collection tanks that will take in rainwater that lands on any part of the overall structure to act as backup for what we take in from the city water supply."

The others nodded as Ayami then waved them up the stairs to the second floor. "This used to be the old part of Tariko-onēchan's bedroom, but part of it's now been changed to a foyer that will allow people to visit Onii-chan in his room," the young genius from Kanagawa stated as she waved around, indicating various doorways. "Onii-chan's baka parents have been shifted to a bedroom on the main floor. A bathroom with furo was installed in the old storage room. The stairs that led up to the second floor were removed to block off any access to the rest of the house. We have the old second floor bathroom open, but there are now two bedrooms up here, plus a third in the new connecting wing." She pointed to the lighthouse wall that cut into the foyer's floor space. "Here's the main entrance to the lighthouse," she said as she indicated the door there. "Tsukihana and I will be living here from now on, plus there's direct access to the lamp room in case Mizuho-san wants to convert it into a fire temple."

"Yeah, we saw the windows," Hirono stated as she walked over to open the door and look inside. A zigzag stairwell went up the northwest side of the lighthouse from the ground floor right up to the lamp room. "What happens if this gets cut off?"

"We got portable materialiser pads in our bedrooms, Onē-chan."

Everyone perked, then watched as Hirono stepped back to allow a slender boy in casual clothes to join them. "Hey, Tsukihana-kun!" Tariko called out with a knowing smile. "Glad to have solid earth under your feet instead of a starship deck?"

A sigh escaped Ki "Kōgetsuei" Tsukihana, Ayami's fellow former kidnap victim thanks to the Ipraedies and co-designer of the Type One star battleship/carriers of the Earth Defence Force. "It's _weird_, Onē-chan!" the crimson-haired, green-eyed, dusky-skinned sixth-year elementary school student — had he got the chance to go to school in lieu of being kidnapped by the Ipraedies over three years before to allow the emerald-skinned race to Earth's galactic "east" to learn more about Terrans — answered with a shrug.

"Well, Ryōko-chan certainly won't complain," Ataru noted.

Tsukihana considered that, and then he nodded, lightly blushing. "True."

Everyone then chuckled before Ayami continued the tour. "We moved the two houses that were on the east side of 12-ban, the house on the northeast corner of 5-ban and the house on the northwest corner of 6-ban to sit them down on the old street bed of Nishi-Teibō 10-dōri," she explained as she waved out a window facing north, which revealed a line of connected houses just to the immediate north of the houses that had originally been built there, they joined together with a connecting wing to both the viewer's left and right. "This will allow more people — Negako-onēsan told me about all of your colleagues' new friends — to live here alongside you under the same roof. There's a connecting hallway between the old Moroboshi home's second floor and the new house to the north of it. The building allows a small archway to permit a path for Onii-chan's parents to enter and leave their residence onto Kita-Teibō 4-dōri."

"But once they're out of here finally, we can open that part of the building to new people and connect it to everywhere else," Hirono added with a knowing grin.

"Hai," Ayami acknowledged with a knowing grin of her own. "So…"

Yūka hummed. "Yūko, why don't you and Karin-chan move into that corner room there?" she said as she waved towards the far room that took up about half the space of the bedroom Ataru's parents once had. "Mitsuko, you and Megumi move into the room beside it." She indicated the bedroom next door, which — save for a small space for a corridor that connected to the new north-side wing — took up the rest of the space of the old master bedroom and part of the old space of Tariko's bedroom. "Hirono, you and Kaori take this room here." She indicated the bedroom next door, which filled up about half of the space of the new connecting wing. "I'll be with Ayami…"

"Of course!" many of the other Shiroiwa girls chanted together.

People laughed as Yūka and Ayami both blushed, and then the couples that had been called out by the former moved to head into their new quarters. Luna Lovegood headed with them so she could un-shrink their packages of clothing and other supplies to get settled in. As Ayami then waved people with her into the old northwest corner house of 14-ban, Ataru gently slipped his hands around Satomi and Mizuho to draw them closer to him. "Let's get moved in," he whispered to them with a nod towards his bedroom.

Both girls smiled as they followed him inside…

* * *

Watching this from the new doorway leading into her bedroom, Tariko could only smirk in delight…and then she tensed on sensing a flash of concern from the woman beside her. «Leave it be, Shinobu,» Ataru's twin then stated telepathically as she waved Shinobu into her bedroom. «You remember how cold he was to you back in March. You want him to start that again if you decide to stick your nose where it doesn't belong?»

Ataru's former girlfriend winced on hearing that message inside her mind; until shortly after his birthday in April, things had been as cold as the Arctic in mid-winter between the former Terran tag champion and his peers at Tomobiki High School. "Hai, Tariko, you're right," she stated after closing the door behind her. "Besides, I really can't complain. Never mind that I'm now in a _lesbian_ relationship of all things with you, I also have a so-called 'mistress' in Kanami as well. Even if I can accept it and my parents really have no problems with it, the other relatives…"

Tariko moaned. "Your grandmother?"

A tired sigh. "Hai."

Ataru's twin nodded as she moved to gently guide Shinobu over to the couch that also served as their loveseat; given that Tariko's room had been expanded to the east to allow the foyer, the staircase to the main floor and new bedrooms to be installed where her old bedroom space was, it had been shoved over close to where the lighthouse stood. To Tariko's amusement, there was an emergency door into the lighthouse — the lower of the two floors Ayami had reserved for herself and Yūka, she knew — in the east wall of her room. As they sat and relaxed, both gazed out the new south-side windows onto a beautiful summer evening settling over Tōkyō. "Wonder how long it'll take for the newsies to notice the new addition to the house," Tariko mused as she leaned over to gently sniff the wonderful fragrance of the shampoo that was still in Shinobu's hair.

"Probably tomorrow. Unless one of the nosy neighbours called someone today," Shinobu breathed out as she let herself literally melt into Tariko's embrace.

_Meru-meru! Meru-meru! Meru-meru! Piroriparopirirora!_

Both girls moaned. "Her Majesty calls," Tariko said with a smirk as she got up, walking over to her work desk to tap her dataPADD. "Hello, gorgeous!"

Instantly, the head-and-upper body image of a pretty yet slender girl possessing raven-black hair tied in two high ponytails — similar to Yūka's preferred hairstyle — and lavender blue eyes appeared in a hologram over the computer/communicator. Instantly, a green rectangular speech balloon appeared underneath that image, which was soon filled with a message in white characters: [**TARIKO! WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU DOING?! WHAT'S THIS ON THE NEWS ABOUT YOU PUTTING A ****_LIGHTHOUSE_**** OF ALL THINGS ON YOUR PROPERTY?!**]

Tariko moaned. "Where's it on TV, Meru-chan?"

A second later, the response came: [**IT'S ON NHK, ANN, FNN AND TV TŌKYŌ!**] Otonashi Meru texted back from her family mansion in Yokosuka; that was not too far from the Hinata-sō in the neighbouring town of the same name. Given the poor girl's psychosomatic muteness — she had suffered from same since the middle years of elementary school, when bullies in her class ruthlessly abused her for her odd voice; only Ataru had any real idea how Meru had once sounded — she could only reply back via e-mail or short messaging service. [**WHAT THE HELL'S GOING ON IN LOONY CENTRAL, ANYWAY?!**]

"Long story, Meru-chan. But I can sum it up in just two words: _Battle Royale_."

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

…Shinobu's own cell-phone rang. "Moshi-moshi," she called into it.

"Shinobu! What are that lecherous freak and his family doing now?!" an aged voice bellowed over the speaker of her own flip-phone.

[**WHO THE HELL'S CALLING THUNDERHIPS, ANYWAY?**] Meru instantly texted over.

Tariko sighed. "Her grandma down in Kyūshū. Would you mind?"

[**GOT HER NUMBER?**]

Tariko leaned close to her dataPADD to whisper the number over; she knew that Miyake Ebi, Shinobu's paternal grandmother, didn't approval AT ALL of her relationship with Tariko regardless of what had been revealed concerning Ataru and his siblings back in February. She then winced on hearing Shinobu growl out, "Obā-san! How DARE you call my girlfriend that?! Do you have ANY idea what she's been through these…?!"

"MIYAKE SHINOBU! How DARE you speak back to me like that?!" Ebi screamed out from her home down in Kagoshima at the southern end of Kyūshū. "Can't you see how much that letch has blinded you to so many things?! You were so NICE and…!"

_Meru-meru! Meru-meru! Meru-meru! Piroriparopirirora!_

"Eh?!"

Shinobu winced before she stared wide-eyed at Tariko. Ataru's twin was giving her a knowing look. Both girls then jerked as a howling scream echoed over the earpiece of the former's cell phone. As soon as that turned into choking sobs, Tariko winked at her lover. "Good thing you got your grandma a cell phone for Christmas, ne?"

Shinobu jerked…before a smirk crossed her face. "Hai!"

_Meru-meru!_ As Tariko turned to gaze on her friend's image, a new string of characters appeared on the speech balloon: [**THE OLD BITCH GOT IT, HUH?**]

"Yeah, she got it," Tariko stated.

[**SO WHAT'S WITH THE LIGHTHOUSE, ANYWAY?**] Meru texted back.

"Like I said before the old lady called in, Meru-chan: _Battle Royale_." Tariko then sighed. "You might as well come on up here. You have to see this to believe it."

[**RIGHT!**]

* * *

Meanwhile, at the Tsubame Onsen near Niigata…

"**_KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH…!_**"

Taking a deep breath, Moroboshi Muchi looked up from the beautiful rock-lined heated pool towards a pool atop a nearby cliff where his wife was relaxing herself. "Dear!" he called out. "What is it?! Is there something wrong with the spring water?!"

A moan seeped down slope towards him. "I wish I never had him…"

He blinked, and then he sighed. "If she had only stopped complaining when it came to Ataru's and Hiromi-chan's girlfriends," he muttered to himself.

Said moan then turned into a pained wail. He looked up towards where his wife might be, and then he shook his head…before a small cup of sake was handed to him. "Pay it no mind, Muchi-kun," a familiar woman's voice gently soothed. "She's just complaining about nothing as usual. Pay it no mind and relax for the evening."

He smiled as he took the cup from Hayasaka Asagi, a tall and slender woman with long, straight strawberry blonde hair and twinkling, mischievous dark brown eyes. One of the three Avalonian "sisters" of the senior Niphentaxian observer on Earth before the Liberation, the twenty-something Asagi — along with her younger sisters Torako and Fūka — had been attracted to Moroboshi Muchi almost since the day they had encountered him when he was on his way to work the previous August. Of course, while nothing truly scandalous had occurred between Ataru's father and the sisters, there were all the rumours…which drove Ataru's mother totally up the wall every time those "three alien hussies" showed up around the Moroboshi home. Of course, it didn't help Kinshō's blood pressure whatsoever that, until she had been fundamentally separated from her own children inside "her" own house — even now, she just couldn't accept the idea that Negako was the title-holder over the property — after the completion of the Yaminokuni mission, the Hayasaka sisters always came to visit the Moroboshi house to exchange gossip with Ataru, Tariko and Hiromi. And it totally drove her around the bend that Asagi and her sisters always made themselves available to cook and do other things for Muchi whenever her own stubbornness saw her put into intensive care at Tomobiki General Hospital for a few days' stay thanks to burns she received from blood ki-powered wards.

"So what is she moaning about now?" Muchi wondered as he sipped his sake.

Asagi slipped into the spring beside him. "Oh, it turns out that the universe of the _Battle Royale_ manga Ataru-kun likes so much is actually real. Some young man from Phentax Two actually found a way to bring the souls of all the Shiroiwa kids — at least the girls; I don't know about the boys — across the dimensional veil and had them reborn as Avalonians." As she sensed Muchi nod — she knew he did love his son, though his willingness to defer so much to his wife had strained that love quite badly over the last few years — she added, "Ataru-kun found out about them, then arranged with Negako-sama to purchase all the property in Tomobiki 4-chōme 14-ban to give those poor kids a place to live. They even built new wings to unite those houses with the main house and put a replica of the Oki-shima Lighthouse on the property as a memorial to what those girls went through on that island." She sipped her own cup of sake before nodding in greetings as Torako and Fūka slipped into the pool with them. "Wonder what'll happen when the boys' souls are brought across the dimensional veil."

Muchi hummed. "Oh, that's…"

It hit him.

"A _**lighthouse**_?!"

The Hayasaka sisters nodded. "Yeah! Big sucker, too! At least twenty metres tall," Torako — she was a raven-haired tomboy with dark brown eyes about a year physically younger than Asagi — stated before she sipped her cup of sake.

Muchi blinked, and then he moaned. "The mortgage…"

"Muchi-kun, you haven't paid into the mortgage since Negako-sama took control of the property in March, remember," Fūka — a girl with shaggy brown hair and dark brown eyes appearing to be about twenty or so — noted as she and her sisters shared knowing looks.

He blinked again, and then he relaxed. "Hai, true…"

"**_MUCHI! WHAT ARE_**** THEY ****_DOING HERE?!_**"

All four looked up to see a wide-eyed Kinshō gaping in shock at the scene below her. "Kinshō-san, you should put a towel on around you!" Asagi warned. "You've giving everyone in all the other pools a very cheap thrill right now!"

Ataru's mother blinked before she looked down at herself.

A second later, an embarrassed shriek echoed through the mountains around Myōkō-san…

* * *

That same moment, on Rishiri-tō…

A knock echoed at the bedroom door. "Husband?"

A pained moan escaped the shuddering woman now in the futon in what had once been Moroboshi Nagaiwakai's master bedroom. "Enter, my wife…"

The door slid open to reveal the reborn second wife of the Xiàolíng Emperor of Hàn, living today as Izuku "Kamikyō Reishi" Mioko. As Hiromi gazed fondly on the woman she truly loved more than Life itself, the smiling woman with the waist-length turquoise hair and the grey-brown eyes behind reading glasses walked over to kneel beside her, reaching automatically for the other woman's hand. "Are you still in pain?"

"It's going away," Hiromi stated as she focused an aura of reassurance to Mioko. It was with good reason; thanks to Mioko having the blood of a Noukiite ch'uokyek injected into her veins when she was a child, she had problems controlling her temper. Because of that, she had to spend almost two years in a magically-induced coma inflicted on her by the leader of the Ten Attendants and Mioko's future sister-in-law, Haru "Chōjō Maryū" Yuzumi, to ensure she never brought anyone else to harm; she had been freed of that coma only when she was transformed into a Terran-turned-Avalonian as arranged by a new friend of the Moroboshi family, Hayashi (_né_ Saotome) Ranma. Given her iron-clad devotion to her reborn husband, Mioko was ready to stomp down on ANYONE who dared bring harm to her beloved Hiromi. That was something that could get her into a load of trouble when it came to Hiromi's brother and his ability to transform into a creature that was almost totally unstoppable. "It was just a brief flash, though quite sharp. Normally, Onii-san does keep good control over his emotions." A sigh. "Still…"

Mioko adjusted her glasses. "I think I may have just discovered the cause of your brother's distress yesterday morning," she stated as she pulled out a dataPADD. "You best read this missive from Negako-sama. It is…quite illuminating."

Hiromi took the device in hand, and then she gazed at the screen. A second later, a croaked scream of shock and disbelief escaped her. That was enough to bring the other two people who shared Hiromi's bed with Mioko — the former's reborn first wife, Sumai "Sōhōfū Yōhō" Takara; and her reborn mistress, Wan "Ōbijaku Andō" Miwaka — running into the room. "Dearest! What's wrong?!" Takara cried out.

Mioko fought down an urge to make a face at the blue-eyed blonde's plea. Hiromi let it pass by — Takara had been trained in the ways of the Gojūni Sanji by Ataru to help keep things peaceful in the reborn emperor's bedroom, thus she knew several ways of keeping Mioko in line — as she held out the dataPADD to Miwaka. The amethyst-eyed, red-haired ex-Nanban High senior — who had planned to become a Buddhist nun before she met her reborn lover — took it and scanned the information on the screen. She blinked several times, and then re-read what was there before shaking her head. "Oh, my…"

"What?!" Takara urged.

"The universe of _Battle Royale_ is real," Mioko explained. "You know that manga series our beloved's brother had Negako-sama ki-ward off from the children?"

Takara hummed. "I saw the movie on DVD once…"

"According to this, that particular universe — at least, as it was depicted in the American English translation of the manga series — is quite real," Miwaka explained. "It was proven when someone from Phentax Two used a powerful Fourth Republic Sagussan artefact to draw the _**souls**_ of all the Shiroiwa class who participated in _The Program_ through the dimensional veil to have them reborn as Avalonians. The girls had been living on the bioroid factory since it was liberated, until some fool from Ataru-kun's old middle school class attacked him and attracted Inada Mizuho's attention; she's the one who controls this artefact now. Once it was all revealed, Negako-sama arranged to purchase some of the neighbouring properties and have them conjoined to our house."

She handed the PADD to Takara to allow her to read it. "Even more so, Onē-sama finally convinced both Ayami-chan and Tsukihana-kun to come down from the _Haida_ to live with us full-time," Hiromi added, closing her eyes. "Ayami-chan was in charge of the property renovations. She had a lighthouse installed on the property to serve as a visual memorial to what those poor people went through. Okā-san will not like that at all."

"Who cares about her?" Mioko growled.

A smirk; like Ataru and Tariko, Hiromi really didn't care at all about their mother. "Aye, Dearest, that's true." Hiromi then sighed. "Even more so, the Shiroiwa boys have been revived…but they are now marooned on the _Planet of Shadows_ of all places in this galaxy of ours! Thus, they require rescue as soon as possible!"

"As boys? I thought the factory can only create girls," Takara noted.

"They discovered another artefact that allows the DNA in an un-templated bioroid body to accept the 'Y' chromosome and allow the body to be moulded as male," Miwaka stated. "Would Otako-san and her advisors on the factory accept that sort of thing, Beloved?"

Hiromi hummed. "There may be some objections. Some of the elder Avalonians remember the failed experiments done by some of Ganzo-ojiisan's former friends in creating male bioroids many decades ago. But given that the men who have been revived to date had been forced to face _The Program_ of all things in their universe…" A shake of the head. "No. Child abuse is something a Sagussan loathes above all. To compound what people such as Master Shūya, Master Shōgo, Master Shinji and their friends went through by forcing them through _gender reassignment_ after saving them from _**dying**_…!"

The others nodded…as a knock echoed from the doorway. All of them looked over to see a familiar woman standing at the bedroom entrance. "Sorry to disturb you all," Rear Admiral Heather Thompkins, the Canadian magical metahuman warrior who was now Flag Officer Commanding of the United Nations Earth Defence Force, stated with a wry smile as she held up her own dataPADD. "Interesting news coming out of Tomobiki, it seems."

"Aye," Hiromi moaned as she moved to sit up. "Well, let's be at it…"

* * *

Meanwhile, forty thousand light-years away…

"**_THEY BROUGHT BACK YOUR MOTHER?!_**"

Kiriyama Kazuo winced on hearing that ear-splitting scream by all of his classmates and the former Niphentaxians who had gone out of their way to have the Shiroiwa boys restored to life. As boys, of course. "Yes," he stated with a tired sigh. "When I was meditating after I assisted Minami in overcoming the after-effect of her forced mind-meld with one of her captors earlier today, I sensed Okā-san through the Te'a. She is currently in a large storage hangar on Phentax Two…"

"Oh, fuck! That's bad news!" Numai Mitsuru moaned out.

A nod. "Hai. Fortunately, there was a _Haijo-ju_ — the device made by Thoughtmaster-prime Skaron sometime after the death of Thoughtmaster-prime Gihan sixteen millennia ago — in the building. It was in the possession of one of Heikiko-san's friends. I urged Okā-san into seizing the device, which should keep her safe. However…"

"She is on Phentax Two. And that is a danger to _**any**_ Avalonian these days."

Eyes locked on Takeshi Mai, and then people nodded in understanding. "Mai-chan, do you have ANY friends back home that could help Kazuo's mother out?" Kawada Shōgo asked.

A shake of the head as Mai's dark eyes teared. "No, Shōgo-san. Most people I could trust back home are probably dead now. What's even worse, given that the Boss' mother is an Avalonian now, scant few people on Phentax Two WOULD want to help her."

"She's just an 'uppity robot' that needs to be put down," Ieyoshi Chikako mused as she gave Tomoe a warm hug. The Kōbe girls had come running to the bridge when the other Shiroiwa boys and their friends gathered there to hear the news from Kazuo.

A tired nod. "Hai." Mai then wryly grinned. "Then again, it is to be expected. Even before the Church of Lum became the 'one true faith,' we were brainwashed by our leaders to believe we were the strongest military power in the galaxy. After all, we were able to attack Vos — the home of the technologically and socially most advanced society in the local cluster — with total impunity with that bio-bomb six years ago." A sigh. "Part of that, of course…"

"Was guaranteed by the 'loyal support' of the Avalonians," Kazuo finished. "Hence, the reason Elder Ganzo was reviled so much as the 'Arch-Heretic.' He wanted to rip away all the labour support our adopted race was made to give their 'masters.' That couldn't be allowed."

"The American Civil War, writ large," Motobuchi Kyōichi breathed out.

The others on the bridge nodded in disgust. Learning the lessons of that particular conflict had been given a prominent emphasis in world history classes in the Greater East Asia Republic to make students accept the "mental inferiority" of the white man in comparison to other humans, never mind that slavery had been practiced in old Japan until the final unification of the Home Islands at the end of the Sengoku period. "So with the Avalonians having been taken away — with the destruction of the Army of Lum as well as Phentax Twelve — some months back, few Niphentaxians would be inclined to help a marooned Avalonian on Phentax Two. Especially if she also has a _Haijo-ju_," Nanahara Shūya breathed out. "Damn! We're stuck _**here**_ of all places…"

"When the hell did you pay attention in history class, Shū?!" Mimura Shinji demanded.

The other Shiroiwa boys — save Kazuo, of course — laughed on hearing that; Shūya's distain for the Republic's education system was well-known. "Well, even if I am a vulgar uneducated barbarian — according to Toshinori here — I can pick some things up, Shinji," Shūya stated as he waved over to a blushing Oda Toshinori.

"Now if you can only learn how to play a damned tune on that guitar of yours, Shūya!" Kuninobu Yoshitoki stated as he held up an objecting finger.

More laughter from the others on the bridge, and then Fujino Shigeki perked. "There is one possibility…" he breathed out. As people gazed on him, the effeminate boy who had provoked the rebirth of the _Program_ players in this dimension as Avalonians hummed. "There is that Noukiite blockade squadron that's patrolling the Home System."

Mai blinked. "The Dragonspeaker?" she asked, gaping at her cousin.

"She is capable of teleporting between solar systems, Mai," Shigeki reminded her. "It's only about sixty light-years between the Home System and Noukiite territory. She's often had to teleport between the territory of the Imperial Dominion and You Know Where — which is AT LEAST a distance of two hundred light-years — many times to deliver those of They Who Must Never Be Named back to their homeworld after she defeated them."

"Shigeru, is there some strange reason you cannot say the word 'Yiziba?'" Kazuo asked.

Wailing screams escaped all the former Niphentaxians on the bridge. As the Shiroiwa boys all shook their heads in pity at such a sight, the Kōbe girls all gaped. "What type of fucked-up universe are we in, anyway?!" Hinase Minami wondered.

"It is to ponder," Kikuchi Emiko breathed out with mock-seriousness.

Immediately, those who had become intimate with Mai, Shigeki and their friends moved to calm them down. "So how do we contact this person?" Inoue Keiko then asked.

"She is an Avalonian herself, Keiko-san," Mai noted. "So…"

"The Dreamscape," Shōgo mused.

"With the Genesis Wand's help," Mai suggested.

Eyes locked on the mace-like device in Shōgo's hand…

* * *

On a floating space station ten light-years from planet Uru…

"_Kukyu…!_"

It had not been a good day for Seu-P'ye Yesu-Re Hechnich'-K'ekhech of Ait'uch Nehech.

She had been visiting some wild wolf friends on Okusei when her cosmic-level senses detected a particularly nasty Yizibajohei heel running rampant on Sakusei Station, which was Uru's largest intergalactic trading outpost, located close to Aruka Ran's ancestral home planet of Shingetsu. Teleporting herself onto the scene, the Dragonspeaker found herself confronting Vinclozolin, the Master of Plants, who was out to transform the fifty kilometre-wide domed space station into his own personal botanical gardens…and possibly kill over a hundred million sentient beings along the way! After wasting an hour using the Cleaver of the Heavens to hack away at the writhing cling-vines he used to stop people from fighting him directly, Kyech then spent about ten minutes pounding the rude _t'ektekki_ into a quivering mass of broken bones and bruised, bleeding flesh.

Unfortunately for her, Vinclozolin managed to score a glancing hit with a poisoned cling-vine branch, which forced Kyech to withdraw into Koruneko's café/pub to spend a night healing her body once he was subdued. Fortunately for the sanity of all the people on Sakusei — to be caught in the presence of any of "They Who Must Never Be Named" for any period of time was the ultimate nightmare for most sentient beings in the local cluster regardless of race — Kyech contacted the Goddess Who Walks Amongst Men, Infinity, to get her to come over to take Vinclozolin back to their home planet.

"My, my, my…they just don't seem to stop, do they?"

"Unfortunately not," Kyech breathed out as she allowed Koruneko to gently clean the wound on her left side under her floating ribs. "Then again, if they did stop that, life would get rather boring for me. And them as well." A smirk. "Hopefully, the Avalonians I managed to relocate to Yiziba a couple years ago will be able to calm them down once and for all and make them act more civilised. They have a right to distrust authority, but to allow that type of anarchy to run rampant across the galaxy…"

"Fortunately for all of us, most Yizibajohei consider 'norms' and 'sames' to be no different than white noise to be ignored," Koruneko stated as he tried to imitate a smile. Being, in effect, an anthropomorphic cat that was only as tall as the level of his current guest's breasts — people from Japan on Earth would mistake the millennia-old being as a living version of the Maneki-neko currently dressed in Korean hanbok-like robes with a cone-shaped kasa on his head — made it difficult for Koruneko to imitate human facial expressions, though. "Which does make life for you easier, of course."

"Of course…" Kyech mused with her normal demure smile. She was an infant age-wise in comparison to her host — Koruneko had forgotten his true age; when asked about it, he often joked, "I stopped counting when I got to five figures" — but they were friends. Which was more than what the Dragonspeaker could say about others she knew of who lived here. Most of the people who lived on Sakusei were, naturally, Urusians. Even if the Imperial Round had been effectively destroyed a month before as a side-show to the whole affair concerning a possible marriage between Rupa of Yaminokuni and Redet Hensō, most Urusians didn't care at all for Noukiites of any stripe. Especially a "bone-head" like the Dragonspeaker, whose metahuman power put her on equal footing to almost any Yizibajohei alive today. To be put into any _debt_ situation to any Noukiite was seen as one of the greatest sins in the eyes of Urusians…which made the times Kyech came to Urusian territory to deal with an errant Yizibajohei all the more galling to Union officials regardless of their personal political views.

Koruneko was quick to sense what his guest was currently reflecting on. "Maybe the next time someone from Yiziba gets the urge to come here, you'll ignore it."

"I am tempted," the Dragonspeaker mused.

«Um…hello! Can you hear me, K'ekhech-sama?!»

Kyech blinked as her chestnut eyes began to glow the burning crimson that reflected the nigh-immortal power that flowed through her veins and arteries. Koruneko blinked; his own meta-senses had picked up that voice as well. "**Who are you?**" she demanded, her voice echoing with almost-divine force as she gazed off to her right.

She could actually sense the person speaking to her wince. «Jeez! You get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning or what?!»

The sound of a fist smacking hard into someone's flesh then echoed through the Te'a. «**_SHŌGO NO BAKA!_**» a girl shrieked out in Japanese.

«Still got that wise-ass mouth of yours, eh, Kawada?!» another girl asked.

Kyech blinked. "**Kawada Shōgo…?!**" she gasped in shock.

Koruneko stared at her. "You know of this person?"

A sigh as Kyech's eyes went back to normal. "He was a character in a fictional tragedy that Ataru told me about while we were together on Okusei," she explained.

«What is fiction in _this_ universe is very real in _**our**_ universe, K'ekhech-dono,» another male voice possessing the same lack of tone that Moroboshi Negako always used then explained. «Our souls were brought into this dimension by a Fourth Sagussan Republic _Haijo-ju_ known as the Staff of Gihan five months ago by fans of the _Battle Royale_ manga series on Phentax Two. Our female classmates are currently on Earth while we are on the Planet of Shadows. We are making use of another _Haijo-ju_ called the Genesis Wand of Parah to communicate with you now from the Planet of Shadows. A third device — unnamed, but constructed by Thoughtmaster-prime Skaron; he succeeded Thoughtmaster-prime Gihan as the Head Scientist of Sagussa — is in the possession of my mother. She is currently on Phentax Two in a large storage hangar outside Lumukyō.»

Hearing that, both Kyech and Koruneko sighed. "The _Haijo-ju_…" the latter then breathed out. "I was wondering when _those_ things would make their reappearance."

"The one on the Planet of Shadows is the Sceptre of Lecasur?" the former asked.

A tired nod. "Unfortunately so."

A nod. "Understood." She then "gazed" in the direction of the Planet of Shadows as her eyes glowed anew. "**I just got into a fight with a Yizibajohei heel here on Sakusei Station.**" Ignoring a chorus of shrieks and wails that came from the direction of the large Dyson sphere over forty thousand light-years away — which proved to Kyech that there were Niphentaxians currently with the Shiroiwa boys — she added, "**As soon as I can, I'll go to Phentax Two and retrieve your mother, Kazuo. Who controls the Staff?**"

If Kiriyama Kazuo had reacted at all to being recognised by the Dragonspeaker, he did not show it as he responded, «Inada Mizuho does.»

"**Contact her and advise her to meet with Moroboshi Hiromi right away. A ship can be dispatched to your location within hours to take you to Earth.**"

«In HOURS, K'ekhech-sama?!» an effeminate boy's voice then demanded.

"**Yes, in hours. Do as I bid!**"

A panicked yelp. «Hai! It will be done, K'ekhech-sama!»

The link through the Te'a then faded. "Let's get you on your feet," Koruneko stated.

"Please do so," Kyech moaned as she relaxed herself…

* * *

Tomobiki, the Moroboshi home, an hour after suppertime…

"You sure got here fast, Meru-chan."

Otonashi Meru held up the screen of the red LG Electronics NTT DoCoMo Prime series L-06A flip phone that she had received from Ataru back in late March, just right after they had first met. [**PAYS TO HAVE A RICH OLD FOOL AS A FATHER.**]

Ataru sighed. "Yeah, I heard the helicopter," he mused as he closed the back door of the old guest house before beckoning Meru into the living room. The muffled sounds of a helicopter lifting off from the expanded lawn west of the Moroboshi home echoed through the building as Meru moved to sit down beside Kotatsuneko and Ataru headed into the kitchen to get some snacks. As the large cat-ghost — who could understand the normally-mute Meru without the need of her typing words on her cell phone or any other device to visually convey her message — moved to prepare tea, Ataru came back into the living room with a basket of fruit for them to enjoy. "The girls are getting moved in right now. Ready to meet some manga characters brought to real life?"

[**BE WEIRD TO MEET CHARACTERS FROM ****_BATTLE ROYALE_**** OF ALL THINGS,**] Meru texted before showing the screen to Ataru; he had often found it incredible that this normally quite shy and timid girl was such a demon — both with her fingers and the words she typed — when it came to text messaging and e-mailing. [**DID SOME FREAK ON THAT PLANET YOU TURNED INTO AN ASTEROID FIELD WANT SOME SEX SLAVES OR WHAT'S THE STORY?**]

"Well, it turns out that the kid that ultimately provoked this is a gay boy who liked the character of Tsukioka Shō and wanted a companion modelled on him," he explained. As Meru's lavender eyes went wide in surprise on hearing that, he added, "Turns out that his grandpa was friends to the Guardians group on Phentax Two; think of them as Ōgi's version of the KGB and you get the right idea." As she made a face, he added, "They had a device — it's an old Sagussan super weapon called the Staff of Gihan — the old fool borrowed to get it done. They used it to — as they believed — create as close of a group of replicas of the _Battle Royale_ characters as could be created." A smirk. "The Staff actually hauled the _souls_ of the Shiroiwa kids through the dimensional veil and almost ten years ahead in time into our dimension. The day we hit Phentax Twelve, the girls had just been reborn inside the bioroid factory. The man who had the Staff woke Mizuho up first to get her to kill me…and she seized the thing, then turned him into air pollution."

Meru perked. [**'MIZUHO,' HUH? NOT 'MIZUHO-CHAN?'**] she texted as she gave him a leer.

"She wants to be my bond-mate."

The daughter of one of Yokohama's richest people gaped. [**NO SHIT!**]

Ataru nodded. "She's not the only one. So does Noda Satomi."

She blink-blinked a few times as that sank in. [**IS THAT ALLOWED?**]

"I know of a three-way bonding down in Kanagawa, believe it or not."

[**WHAT ABOUT SUPER-BOOBS AND HER LAP BITCH?**]

He tried not to sigh too much. Given the total LACK of any sort of moderating influence or emotional support in Meru's life ever since she had become effectively mute years ago, the poor girl couldn't seem to bring herself to NOT insult people. Ataru and his sisters were exempted from that…but then again, saving one's life would make an impression on almost anyone, even someone as caustic as Otonashi Meru. "Super-Boobs" was Meru's nickname for Sebone Shikuko; the follow-up term was what Meru called Noberu Miyako. Of course, the two Rakuyō alumni didn't particularly care for the mute student who was a part of Class 2-6 of Kumeta High School…but given Meru's willingness to insult anyone regardless of who they were, both Shikuko and Miyako had to admire the girl's guts. "They're bonded to each other, remember?"

She blushed. [**SORRY, FORGOT.**]

"Ah! Lady Meru! You grace us with your presence this day."

Meru perked, and then she stared wide-eyed at a beautiful woman in pure white from neck to toe, the only colour on her body being fair skin, dark grey hair and pale blue eyes. As her mind crashed on beholding what was — to her — a fictional character in a tragic story that railed against the mad obsession of being the best in anything in modern-day Japan, Mizuho gazed quietly at her before she moved to sit beside Ataru. "Yes, I am very real, Lady Meru," the would-be warrior-priestess stated as she gave the visitor from Yokosuka a demure smile, taking an orange from the basket Ataru brought into the living room to eat it. "It is good that Ataru does have a friend such as yourself."

Meru instantly turned tomato-red at that complement. [**WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT A GIRL LIKE ME?!**] she instantly texted on her phone screen.

"That Ataru saved your life back in late March when the pirates of Konton came here to seize the bioroid factory," Mizuho answered. "Before that, you were seen only as the 'Abusive E-mail Girl' in your class at Kumeta High School, under the guidance of what — in my eyes — was the darkest, most perverse creature ever to be granted a certificate to teach in the history of education." As Ataru laughed, she added, "That you continue to endure the ministrations of this 'Zetsubō-sensei' proves how strong you really are."

"Don't forget her father," Ataru advised.

"Why do you say that?"

"He named her 'Meru.' Written with the characters for 'halted sprout.'"

Silence.

More silence.

Still more silence.

And then…

Mizuho snarled, "I will KILL him…!"

[**DON'T.**]

She gazed at Meru. "Why not?!"

[**IF YOU KILL HIM NOW, I WON'T GET CONTROL OVER MY INHERITENCE,**] the mute girl texted. [**I HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL I'M AT LEAST TWENTY BEFORE I GET THE WHOLE KIT AND CABOOTLE WITHOUT SOME IDIOT ACTING AS MY LEGAL GUARDIAN.**]

"Damn! A girl who's got her priorities straight! Where the fuck did you find her, Ataru?!" a strange voice then challenged from nearby.

Ataru looked over as Hirono walked up to join them. "Saved her pretty self from a bunch of stupid pirates back in March who were denying her signal for her cell phone," he answered as he waved to Meru's device. "It was a rude thing to do, so I eviscerated the whole lot with my fingers." He wiggled his free hand in emphasis.

"While wearing his armour," Mizuho added. "Dear Hirono, may I present the wondrously expressive, verbally vitriolic Otonashi Meru. Kumeta High School, Year 2 Class 6."

"This is Otonashi Meru?!"

Everyone turned as Satomi walked into the room, dressed down in a pair of hip-hugging jeans and a button shirt. "Hai, Satomi, this is her," Ataru stated.

Satomi sat down at the table and took an apple in hand to eat it. Meru then spun on Mizuho. [**OI! WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN TELLING PEOPLE ABOUT ME, INADA?!**]

"The truth," Mizuho stated with a smile. "You have a father that has literally abandoned you by not spending his wealth in finding ways to help you overcome your muteness. You currently attend a school where you're surrounded by the oddest collection of peers in the history of modern education. And your teacher should be isolated somewhere alone so he could finally hang himself without that stupid Fu'ura Kafuka — of whatever the creature's real name is! — woman interfering!"

[**HER REAL NAME IS 'AKAGI AN,' INADA,**] Meru texted as she nodded in agreement; the others in the room could sense the fear deep inside her heart on even MENTIONING that particular classmate of hers. [**STILL, YOU'RE RIGHT ABOUT THE BITCH! IF THERE WAS A MORE EVIL GIRL IN EXISTENCE, I HAVEN'T FOUND HER YET!**]

"Can we arrange a fatal accident to happen to the bitch?!" Hirono proposed.

The others all laughed…

* * *

…while down in Yokosuka…

"**_AH-CHOO!_**"

"Bless you," Kitsu Chiri called out.

A moan escaped the ever-smiling Fu'ura Kafuka. "I must have a cold."

"You might want to go visit Sensei's brother about that."

A nod. "True. I'm sure Zetsumei-sensei could help me."

A wailing scream then echoed from nearby. Both girls spun around to morbidly watch as Itoshiki Mikoto rammed his head against a nearby telephone pole. "_**THAT DAMNED NAME IS WHY I DON'T GET ANY PATIENTS!**_" he wailed out as he did that.

"Ah, Onii-sama is still in despair," Mikoto's younger brother Nozomu mused from nearby.

Kafuka lightly smiled. "Zetsumei-sensei must be trying to kill mosquitoes."

Chiri just STARED at her. "Right…!" she drawled out…

* * *

Back up in Tomobiki…

"Hey, Meru-chan! When did you get in here?!"

Meru smirked as she held up her cell phone to Tariko as she sat down by the table. [**JUST NOW. DIDN'T YOU HEAR THE HELICOPTER WHEN I CAME IN?**]

Tariko blinked. "Your jackass old man's trying to imitate Shūtarō's old man now?"

[**I SOMETIMES HAVE TO WONDER.**]

"Um…why did she come here, Ataru-kun?"

Meru's eyes focused on Shinobu, who had just walked over to join them. [**BECAUSE I HAPPEN TO BE HIS FRIEND, THUNDERHIPS,**] she replied via her phone screen. [**SOMETHING THAT I'M MORE THAN CONVINCED A SELFISH BITCH LIKE YOU WILL ****_NEVER_**** UNDERSTAND.**]

"HEY!" Shinobu yelped.

"Ara! Meru-san! What brings you about our humble corner of old Edo this day?"

Meru smiled as Hiromi walked in from the back door of the old guest house. The others were quick to see the reborn emperor's lovers moving to head upstairs to put their bags away in their shared bedroom. "Where are the kids, Hiromi?" Ataru asked.

"Jiāfù and Jiāmǔ are babysitting them up on Rishiri-tō for the time being," Hiromi stated as she moved to sit at the table. "Since we've done our best to keep them from learning the whole story of _Battle Royale_, we'll wait until we retrieve all…"

«Oi, Inada! You out there somewhere?!»

Everyone perked. Mizuho held out her hand, allowing the Staff of Gihan to appear in it from its new storage rack on the northern wall of Ataru's bedroom. "'Tis good to hear your voice again, Master Shōgo," the would-be warrior-priestess stated. "I would assume that if you're communicating with us while we're awake…"

«Yeah, we got the Genesis Wand back a few hours ago,» Shōgo replied from the Planet of Shadows as Mizuho allowed an image of the bridge of a certain warp-sloop to appear on the west-side windows. «As you can probably see right now…»

"Your beloved and your old female classmates from Kōbe have also been given their lives back," Mizuho finished as the non-_Program_ players all gaped in shock on seeing the Shiroiwa boys — joined by a small group of unrecognisable girls now dressed in the seifuku of that particular school, plus the boy the Shiroiwa girls knew as Geran dai-Farosh — and a whole bunch of girls in a different model of uniform standing there. "Speaking of which, it is an honour to make your acquaintance, Lady Keiko. Your beloved's feelings for you shine like the brightest stars in the sky."

«And you call this girl a 'nutty fruitcake,' Kawada?» a girl that looked ominously to Ataru, Tariko, Hiromi and Meru as the girl who had snuck up behind Shōgo near the end of his first run through _The Program_ asked as she crossed her arms. «Are you blind?!»

«I sometimes wonder about him, Minami,» Keiko noted.

The others on the bridge far away laughed while Shōgo looked annoyed. "Are you people in any sort of imminent danger at this very moment, minna-san?" Hiromi then asked. "We have the means to immediately extract you from that place and bring you here to Earth if it's required."

«How can you do _**that**_?!» Kyōichi asked.

The reborn emperor smiled. "Master Kyōichi, if such never existed in your universe, she is known here simply as 'Major Raeburn,'" she answered.

The _Program_ players on the sloop blinked in confusion while their companions all gaped in shock. «Your planet's Jewel Warrior?! She's come back to Earth?!» a green-haired, blue-eyed girl now being embraced by a man Hiromi believed was Kuninobu Yoshitoki asked.

"She's been on Earth all along," Hiromi answered. Which was a lie, but these people — and whoever might be listening in to this conversation through the Te'a — didn't need to know that. "And if Onii-san lost the tag race against Hensō-san last year, Raeburn-shōshō would have killed Hensō-san off, destroyed the _Kashin_, slaughtered the crew, then delivered the hulk back to Uru to ensure the 'federation of lies' that threatened us from the galactic south and northeast understood we were to be left alone."

The Niphentaxians — even if they all looked Terran to the reborn emperor's eyes — all winced on hearing that; the reputation of one Major (now Major General) Dean Raeburn was well-known to them. The young man currently standing arm-in-arm with Tsukioka Shō — there was no mistaking **_him_** in Hiromi's eyes — then smiled. «Your people would have had every right to do that, Hiromi-sama,» he stated. «The Galactic Non-Interference Treaty was signed in good faith by all the member-states of the Galactic Federation fifty years ago, including Uru and Phentax Two. No matter what the Ipraedies were planning to do to your planet, threatening to invade Earth was not the way to keep them at bay.»

"Did you know of the annihilation bomb that was buried in the town Ginza here in Tomobiki by Ōgi's witless observers, good sir?" Hiromi then asked.

All of the Niphentaxians gasped. «_**ANNIHILATION BOMB?!**_» they shrieked as one.

A sigh. "That answers my question," the reborn emperor stated. "Anyhow, you all relax and be patient. A ship will be out your way in twelve hours to bring you here."

Jaws dropped. «How's that possible, Sempai?» Yamamoto Kazuhiko then asked. «Tomoe-chan stated it took the people who brought Keiko-san and her friends back a MONTH to get here from the Phentax system, even using that wormhole that leads right here from near Vosian space.» He waved to a young girl being held by one of Shōgo's old classmates from Kōbe.

"I'd rather not answer that right now, Kazuhiko-san," Hiromi answered. "Even if we Avalonians have the ability to tap into the Dreamscape, the proliferation of the various _Haijo-ju_ such as Mizuho-san's staff and the Genesis Wand that Shōgo-san has now would give anyone else with such a device the ability to listen into this conversation."

«Which is the primary reason we're communicating with you now, Hiromi-san.»

Everyone perked. "What do you mean, Kazuo?!" Hirono asked.

«A third _Haijo-ju_ — the device built by Thoughtmaster-prime Skaron — is now in the hands of my mother, Hirono,» Kazuo replied from the Planet of Shadows. As people in Tomobiki gasped in shock on hearing that, he added, «She is currently on Phentax Two, in a large storage hangar near Lumukyō. We've already alerted the Lady K'ekhech about this. As soon as she recovers from a fight she was in against some Yizibajohei…»

Multiple screams. «_**BOSS! DON'T SAY THAT NAME!**_» Yoshitoki's companion wailed.

Hiromi chuckled. "I comprehend that, Kazuo-san. I'm sure Kyech-san will keep your mother safe and sound. We best end this communication now."

«We'll be here,» Shōgo vowed.

The image faded. "Damn! Kazuo's MOM?! What the hell possessed the Guardians to do THAT?!" Tariko demanded as Hiromi sat down in a nearby chair.

"It is because I possess THIS, Lady Tariko," Mizuho answered as she hefted the Staff off the floor. "With the Staff, they were next to invincible."

[**THEY'RE IN A SNIT BECAUSE YOU TOOK THEIR TOY AWAY,**] Meru texted.

"Aye."

"Mizuho-san, does the Staff know of the identities of all the Guardians?" Hiromi asked.

_**Indeed I do, Moroboshi Hiromi**_, the Staff replied as its focusing crystal pulsed.

The reborn emperor blinked, and then she sighed. "Good. I believe we best contact some of our friends on Noukiios to have them hunted down and eliminated," she then declared in a cold voice, which made the others in the room shiver. "Their existence is a threat to anyone who doesn't submit to mad Ōgi's so-called 'religion.' The sooner they are removed from this life once and for all, the better for the rest of us."

"Not to mention many of the 'truly faithful,' Oh Emperor."

Hiromi tried not to wince on hearing Mizuho call her _that_. "How so?"

"After I became one with the Staff, I learned of a 'doomsday protocol' the Guardians unintentionally forced into its controlling mechanism," the younger girl answered. "If this protocol was engaged, the resulting burst of energy would have killed ALL of the most passionate believers adhering to the tenets of the so-called 'one true faith.' Had this happened on Phentax Two itself, the casualties would have been in the BILLIONS."

Stunned silence fell as people took that in. "Indeed," Hiromi purred out as a mirthless smile crossed her face. "I believe we can use that, Lady Mizuho."

"Indeed we can," Mizuho affirmed with a nod…

* * *

And on Phentax Two…

"Kiriyama Kimiyo?"

A shocked gasp escaped the dark-haired woman now sitting at a station in the middle of a rather large hangar. Grabbing the Wand of Skaron — as she had come to call the powerful device she was now the controller of — Kazuo's mother spun around to aim it at the figure in black-and-white in the shadows nearby. "_**WHO ARE YOU?!**_"

"Your son asked me to look in on you."

Kimiyo blinked as the woman walked out of the shadows. "Kazuo-chan…"

«Okā-san, K'ekhech-dono will keep you safe,» a welcome voice echoed in her mind.

Staring wide-eyed at She Who Speaks to Dragons — especially the Klingon-like forehead ridges above the bridge of her nose, barely covered by the shaggy red hair on her head — Kimiyo blinked before she sank back into her chair. "I'm in the Twilight Zone."

Kyech blinked. "What is the Twilight Zone?"

The other woman gaped at her…

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

1) The first scene in this part introduces the oddities of the Japanese addressing system for physical locations inside the country. Unlike Western-style urban addresses, which adhere to a "house number+street name+municipality+sub-national division" approach to things (using a listing order from smallest geographic entity to largest), Japanese addresses follow the "prefecture+municipality+sub-minicipality+district+block+house number" concept (from largest geographic entity to smallest). For example, Ataru's address: **Tōkyō-to, Nishitōkyō-shi, Tomobiki 4-chōme 13-ban 3-gō, Moroboshi Ataru-shi**. In Western order, this would be translated as follows: **Mr. Ataru Moroboshi, 3rd House, 13th Block, 4th District of Tomobiki, City of Nishitōkyō, Metropolis of Tōkyō**. Most municipalities in Japan follow this type of addressing system.

As an aside, the "district+block+house number" group in the address is often written without the **-chōme**, **-ban** and **-gō** kanji, thus Ataru's address could be shortened this way: **Tōkyō-to, Nishitōkyō-shi, Tomobiki 4-13-3, Moroboshi Ataru-shi**. Also, since Tomobiki itself is a town (**chō**) within the city of Nishitōkyō, there's no need to list the name twice, as in **Tomobiki-chō, Tomobiki 4-chōme**.

2) It should also be noted that very few streets in Japan are actually given a name; this is normally reserved for major city thoroughfares. However, as Tomobiki was the site of a former American Army base (as noted in the previous part), all the streets in town were given names. To chase off the foreign influence on the town post-1954, all "foreign" street names were changed to Japanese names.

3) Translations: **Kita** — North; **Teibō** — A name derived from the Oriental **Sexagenary Cycle** of sixty terms used in time measurement, combining the Fourth Heavenly Stem (_Tei_) with the Fourth Earthly Branch (_Bō_); **Dōri** — City street; **Nishi** — West; **NHK** — Short for _Nihon Hōsō Kyōkai_ ("Japan Broadcasting Corporation"), Japan's national public broadcasting network; **ANN** — All-Nippon News Network, which is a subsidiary of the **TV Asahi** group; **FNN** — Fuji News Network, the television news channel of the **Fuji Television Network** group; **TV Tōkyō** — The founding station of the **TX Network** broadcast group, which also has stations in Ōsaka, Aichi Prefecture and Fukuoka; **Sengoku** — Literally "warring states," this is the name of the period of Japanese history that is normally stated as occurring between 1467-1573; **Kukyu** — Ouch; **T'ektekki** — Jackass; **Maneki-neko** — Literally "beckoning cat," this is the name of a good-luck statue that is always visible at the main door of every restaurant in Japan; **Hanbok** — Modern title for traditional Korean two-piece dress clothes; **Kasa** — Bamboo hat; **LG** — Derived from the term "Lucky Goldstar," this is Korea's second-largest **chaebŏl** (family-owned conglomerate), which specialises in electronic goods, telecommunication services and chemical industrial services; **NTT DoCoMo** — A term mixing the initials "NTT" ("Nippon Telegraph and Telephone") and "DoCoMo" (short for the phrase "do communications over the mobile network," based on the word _dokomo_ ["everywhere"]), this is the name of Japan's largest cell phone network.

4) _Yatsura_ character and place notes: **Ryōki Kōsei** is a character from _The Senior Year_; he was first introduced in the story "The Return of Kōsei Ryōki" (his situation as described in _TSY_ inspired the situation in the universe of this story concerning Hakaru Ayami as noted in _Phoenix From the Ashes_); Shinobu's grandmother **Miyake Ebi** was a minor _TSY_ character; she was first introduced in the story "Great Father Ataru Stage Ten: Revelations;" **Koruneko** is my name for the Begging Cat-like figure that appears in the sixth movie, _Always My Darling_; **Sakusei Station** is my name for the space station that Lum and her friends retreated to after Ataru had been kidnapped by Princess Lupica at the start of that movie; and the _Kashin_ is Mike Smith's name for Invader's command ship that first appeared in the first anime episode, "I'm Lum The Notorious," as well as the first movie _Only You_.

5) **Sakurayama Momoko** (nicknamed "Momo-chan" by her co-workers) is a character from the anime series _Kidō Keisatsu Patlabor_. This series, created by the famous Headgear team headed by **Oshii Mamoru** (born 1951) — he was the director and storyboard artist of the _Yatsura_ television series and the first two movies from 1981-84 — first came out in a seven-episode OVA format in 1988-89. A movie based on the OVA storyline was released in 1989. A television series written on a separate storyline was broadcast in 1989-90, with a sequel OVA series released in 1990-92. A second movie — based on the original OVA storyline — was released in 1993, with a third movie following in 2001. _Patlabor_ — which was introduced to me by Mike Smith after I met him in the early 1990s — is one of my favourite anime series. It should be noted that many _Yatsura_ anime voice actors got roles in _Patlabor_. For example, Moroboshi Ataru's voice actor **Furukawa Toshio** (born 1946) played **Shinohara Asuma** in _Patlabor_, Megane's voice actor **Chiba Shigeru** (born 1954) played **Shiba Shigeo** (also known as "Shige"), and the late **Inoue Yō** (1946-2003) — who played **Ran** in the first two seasons of the _Yatsura_ television series — was the voice actress of **Kanuka Clancy**.

6) Tōshi character notes:

**Ki Tsukihana** (**Kōgetsuei**) was first introduced in part 11 of _PFtA_. His background story — like Ayami's — was based on what happened to Ryōki Kōsei in _TSY_.

**Izuku Mioko** (**Kamikyō Reishi**) was first introduced in part 28 of _PFtA_. She would more or less be known in Japanese as **Kataikō**; the explanation for her change of battle name is given in the writer's notes in parts 28 and 34.

**Sumai Takara** (**Sōhōfū Yōhō**) was first introduced in part 48 of _PFtA_. The explanation of the first name of her battle name is given there; she would be known to most Japanese as **Sōkōgō**. The second name (the "style-name" element) of her battle name is derived from the Mandarin _Yǒngfèng_, which mixes the first characters of the terms _yǒngyuǎn_ ("eternal") and _fèngxiàn_ ("devotion").

**Wan Miwaka** (**Ōbijaku Andō**) was first introduced in part 32 of _PFtA_. The explanation of the first part of her battle name is given there; she is known to most Japanese as **Ōbijin**. The style-name element of her battle name is derived from the Mandarin _Āntóng_, which mixes the first character of _ānxiáng_ ("serene") and _tóngqíng_ ("sympathy").

**Haru Yuzumi** (**Chōjō Maryū**) was also first introduced in part 28 of _PFtA_. The style-name element of her battle name is derived from the Mandarin _Mólóng_ ("magical dragon"); it is not known if Yuzumi's past-self had a style-name or not.

And the **Jiāfù** ("father of the house") and **Jiāmǔ** ("mother of the house") mentioned by Hiromi near the end of this part were first introduced in part 55 of _PFtA_. They are Hiromi's reborn parents from her first life, **Koro Chōmi** (**Ryūchō Kyōnin**) and her "wife" **Tadasu Takemi** (**Tōbumi Kyōsei**).

7) **Otonashi Meru** is a character from the witty and funny manga series _Sayonara Zetsubō-sensei_ (literally meaning "Goodbye, Mr. Despair") by Kumeta Kōji, which was published from 2005-12. A series that parodies almost every aspect of Japanese life (as _Urusei Yatsura_ did years earlier), its namesake character is the ever-pessimistic and borderline suicidal **Itoshiki Nozomu**. His full name, which is written 糸色 望, could be misinterpreted as **Zetsubō** ("without hope" or "despair") when the kanji of the family name "Itoshiki" (which literally means "silk colour") are compressed together into the single kanji 絶 ("cut" or "without"), then written together with the kanji of his given name. This joke really plays out well if you write the name horizontally in lieu of vertically. Likewise, the kanji of Nozomu's elder brother **Itoshiki Mikoto** (whose name is written 糸色 命) could be misinterpreted as **Zetsumei** ("without life" or "death") using the above-mentioned format. Hence, we have Mikoto's laments about his not having any patients…but then again, who in their right mind in Japan would go see a doctor whose name could be misinterpreted as "Death?!"

As one can immediately conclude, the names of all the characters in _Sayonara Zetsubō-sensei_ are all puns of one sort or another. Meru's name, for example, could be interpreted as meaning "silent e-mail." The family name "Otonashi" (音無) literally translates as "negative sound." The given name, which is written as 芽留 (literally "halted sprout" as Ataru notes in the latter scenes of this part), is actually derived from the English loan word "mail" (written in katakana as メール [_mēru_]), which actually is the term applied to **e-mail**; regular postal mail is known as **yūbin**. Meru's first appearance was in the manga is the story "The Antenna is Rising…We Must Attempt to Live!" (manga episode #7). Unlike many of the other members of Nozomu's homeroom class, she doesn't play much of a prominent role in the series because of her effective one-joke nature.

In essence, she's the ultimate Internet junkie and e-mail troll.

As an aside, the name of Meru's school changes throughout the anime series. So — in borrowing an idea I used in both the Anime Addventure and my story _The Thunderbolt's Tears_ for the _Azumanga Daiō_ characters and their unnamed school — I used Kumeta-sensei's family name as the school name. Also, Meru's ringtone "_Meru-meru! Meru-meru! Meru-meru! Piroriparopirirora!_" is taken from the second part of the fourth anime episode of the first series, which is a direct — but more extensive — version of the manga story that introduces her.

8) The **Hayasaka sisters** first appeared in the Anime Addventure as part of my _The Emperor's Army_ storyline; they showed up in episode #234749, "A Father's Failure, A Father's Salvation." I based all three of them on characters from Azuma Kiyohiko-sensei's really funny manga series _Yotsuba&_.

9) Rear Admiral **Heather Thompkins** — also known as **Spitfire** — is one of the support characters I created for the universe of Major Raeburn back in the early 1980s. A full explanation of her background is contained in the writer's notes for part 51 of _PFtA_.


	8. The Sceptre of Lecasur

H.M.C.S. _Haida_, in orbit over Toronto (local time: an hour before breakfast)…

"Chief?"

"Yes, Admiral?"

"Is sarcasm part of your job description?"

A chuckle escaped the silver-haired, blue-eyed United States Navy SEAL who was now standing in front of Heather Thompkins' work table. "Ma'am, given the Mickey Mouse nature of how this force came together in the first place, that we're able to do ANYTHING these days is a miracle in and of itself," Fleet Master Chief Petty Officer (Naval Special Warfare Specialist) Patrick Bullard — he was the senior enlisted advisor of the Earth Defence Force, the administratively highest-ranking non-commissioned serviceman in the pan-national formation — stated as he gave the flag officer in command of the Earth Defence Force a sympathetic smile. "That we're able to man these ships **_at all_** is a miracle in and of itself. But with the plank owners all going through basic training right now — and knowing that the school commandants wouldn't care too much to have their recruits yanked out of basic even for a quick day-trip to this Planet of Shadows place — do we really want to hurt the girls that way?"

The magical member of the War Hawks considered that for a moment, and then shook her head. "No. Even if they know how to operate these ships like the back of their hands, they ALSO need to learn how to operate in an intensive environment for days at a time. Basic training does that for them very succinctly." She smirked as she remembered how relatively easy she had it when she went through basic training at H.M.C.S. _Conestoga_, the stone frigate located in the modern-day Ontario city of Cambridge west-southwest of Toronto that was the home station of the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service. While said unit had not been reborn as an independent division in the massive post-March expansion of the Naval Reserve thanks to the Avalonians, _Conestoga_ had been honoured by the activation of a naval supplementary communications unit based now in Cambridge that was a tender for the naval reserve division commissioned a week ago in nearby Kitchener, H.M.C.S. _Prestonian_. "Alright. If we can't use any of the Type Ones, how about the others? Captain Krylóv, what's the report on the Twos and Threes?"

_Kapitán Vtorogo Ránga_ Nikolái Alekséjevič Krylóv currently served as the Chief of Staff to the force commander. A sailor who had specialised in submarine operations — much in the same manner _Haida_'s skipper, Captain (Navy) Brian Gamblin, had done — he had two attack boat commands under his belt atop the standard shipboard postings at lower rank levels as well as times doing navy staff college courses ashore. He was gifted in languages — not that such was needed on the starships of Earth's slowly-growing space fleet given the universal translator systems that were standard kit on these ships — and was fluent in three beyond his native Russian. One was Mandarin; he had actually made the captain of _Haida_'s sistership _Zhèng Hé_, _Hǎijūn Shàngxiào_ Liú Xīyuán, weep with a beautiful rendition of some of Cáo Cāo's classical poetry on the Russian officer's first day on the job a week after the Task Force had returned from its trip to Yaminokuni. "Regretfully, Comrade Admiral, there are no Metzada-class vessels that could be seen as ready to deploy anytime within the next three weeks at the earliest. That is the time _Metzada_ and _Yodfat_ will be able to finally leave the docks." An apologetic smile crossed his face. "Comrade Deputy Generals Almog and Shamir are working as fast as they can, but the Israeli Navy command staff wanted the Avalonian crews gestated for those ships to be put through Rifleman 02 basic training as soon as they emerged from the bioroid factory last week. That's at least a four-week course."

A sigh. "And the other Type Twos won't be considered completed until mid-August at the earliest. Never mind the question about when their commissioning crews would do their basic training," Heather noted. "What about the Type Threes, Kolya?"

Krylóv smiled. He would swear on the grave of his beloved grandmother that Heather Thompkins had Russian somewhere in her ancestry; skilled archmage-level sorceress she was, she had a heart as vast as her native Québec and the willingness to not be so formal even with the junior-most seamen now under her command. In the last two weeks, there had been times he found himself slipping and called her by the Russian form of her name with patronymic — "Xizer Sergejovna" — when conversations had slipped away from the decorum demanded of a military formation headquarters. Fortunately for him, Fleet Chief Bullard readily gave the Russian officer a quick reminder to keep it respectful, usually with a gentle cough; the American special warfare operator was a consummate professional who loathed any sort of softening of the divisions between officers and rates. "Only one ship is available, Comrade Admiral: The _Óðinn_."

"The Icelandic coast guard ship?" Bullard asked.

"_Da_. As you know, Comrade Fleet Chief, the _Óðinn_ was completed and declared mission-ready the same day as _Warrior_ was…but our friends from Reykjavík deferred to our friends from London when it was proposed to give that class of vessel its type name. Atop that, unlike _Warrior_'s Avalonian crew — who are now facing all the trials the people at _Raleigh_ can toss at them alongside their sisters from _Hood_ — Comrade Captain Jóhanna Þorgilsdóttir has decided to allow her people the chance to do some decent on-the-job training before facing the Coast Guard's version of basic training."

The others nodded. Because the Canadian starship they all now stood on had been chosen as the overall force flagship by Moroboshi Hiromi back in February when she and her sisterships had been brought to Earth from Den'sha Two, the type name for the Type Ones was officially designated the "Haida-class" at the start of June. When it came to the two follow-on classes of starship — the Type Two space destroyers (of which a hundred would be built) and the Type Three space frigates (of which a class of two hundred ships would be built initially, with more to possibly follow) — being constructed for the Earth Defence Force, it was decided to allow the type name to come from the first vessel to be declared physically complete and ready to deploy from the dockyards, complete with a complement of Avalonian "plank owners" freshly gestated from the bioroid factory.

For the Type Twos, the first ship that was seen as ready to deploy was the Oniyat Heyl Hayam _Metzada_ of Israel; she — and her sistership AChY _Yodfat_ — were physically complete the day after the Task Force returned from Yaminokuni and the name was selected due to the former vessel's symbolic connection to the famous hilltop fortress of Masada. For the Type Threes, it had been a tie between Her Majesty's Starship _Warrior_ of Great Britain and the Varðgeimskip _Óðinn_ of Iceland; both vessels were declared ready to deploy two days after _Metzada_ and _Yodfat_. When that happened, _Warrior_'s captain Lieutenant Commander Lewis McMurray was more than happy to declare the Icelanders the winners of that particular "race." His opposite number on _Óðinn_, _Annar Skipherra_ Jóhanna Þorgilsdóttir — the first woman to earn a ship command billet in the _Landhelgisgæslan_, who had done time with the Icelandic Coast Guard's helicopter unit before being given command of the fourth ship named after the All-Father of Norse myth to serve the island nation — politely deferred back to the British. It finally had to be deferred all the way to Tomobiki to have Moroboshi Hiromi decide on the issue.

With a coin-toss, the Type Three space frigates earned the type name "Warrior-class."

"Alright, then. Call Jóhanna and give her the news," Heather sighed.

"_Da!_"

And with that, Krylóv headed off. Bullard sighed as he looked at the Canadian admiral. "It would make sense to get the _Óðinn_ to do this."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, this is a SAR mission, ma'am," the American special warfare operator from Corpus Christi noted. "Go to this Dyson sphere to pick up these kids, and then bring them here. No need to go in with guns blazing like we were ready to do a couple weeks ago."

Heather hummed. "Pat, call down to Jessica's office and see if the others are free."

Bullard blinked. "Why?"

She gave him a knowing look. "Better to be safe than sorry."

A nod. Being that way was a fact of life for SEALs these days as much as it had been for the 1st Canadian Specialised Warfare Unit years ago. "Good point, ma'am."

* * *

In orbit over Reykjavík, Iceland (local time: An hour before lunch)…

_How in the name of God did I get to be in command of_ this_?!_

Jóhanna Þorgilsdóttir was still fighting the urge to pinch herself.

The native of Patreksfjörður near the northwestern tip of the island nation in the far north Atlantic had been — like many other women in the military during the previous couple of decades — quite the trailblazer. The first woman to train as a search-and-rescue helicopter pilot in the Icelandic Coast Guard, she had been involved in dozens of incidents around her home nation when she had been a junior officer. Eventually volunteering to serve as a shipboard helicopter pilot on both the third _Óðinn_ and the second _Ægir_ to serve in the _Landhelgisgæslan_, she also took the chance to properly earn her bridge watchkeeping papers, thus making her a true professional sailor as well as a naval aviator of sorts. She would have been assigned as executive officer to the newest vessel of the Coast Guard, the third ship to take the name _Þór_…but the Avalonians' arrival on Earth completely changed that.

In the wake of the beginning of negotiations between the various nations of Earth to properly establish the United Nations Earth Defence Force, the Avalonians began using the twenty-four large-capacity spacedocks they had brought with them from the Phentax system in February to construct the Type Two space destroyers and Type Three space frigates to complement the fifty Type One space battleship/carriers that had been built at Den'sha Two by Ki Tsukihana and Hakaru Ayami. With a hundred Metzada-class ships and two hundred Warrior-class ships now coming down the pike with a potential follow-on order of the latter type, it was decided that all the nations of Earth would at least get **_one_** starship to call their own. Using the ranking system of national population levels, it was calculated that Iceland would get one Type Three starship.

There was one small problem, though.

Iceland had **_no standing armed forces_** to speak of!

What on Earth was a nation that had found creating an army or navy too expensive in the first place when it became a self-governing realm in 1918 to do with a _**starship**_ that could probably duel the U.S.S. _Enterprise_ from the old _Star Trek_ movies…and WIN?!

When that news got to Moroboshi Hiromi, she had actually been stumped…until she learned that while Iceland didn't have an army or navy, the nation DID have a well-trained coast guard force that had actually stood up to the _**Royal Navy**_ in the _Þorskastríðin_ fought between Iceland and Britain in 1958, 1972-73 and 1975-76.

So it was decided that Iceland's space frigate would serve in the _Landhelgisgæslan_!

And since a Warrior-class ship came automatically with fifty freshly-gestated Avalonian "plank owners" — to borrow the American term for a warship's initial commissioning crew — to help man the ship, the idiots in Reykjavík decided that Jóhanna Þorgilsdóttir was the perfect person to actually command the fourth _Óðinn_ to serve in the Coast Guard.

On seeing the ship being built in Spacedock #16 a month before, Jóhanna was stunned.

Even now, with the _Óðinn_ floating serenely in stationary orbit over her home nation, freshly coated in the colours of her home service, it struck the veteran helicopter pilot as the most perverse thing to ever happen in Iceland's history.

_What are we going to do with this thing?!_

"Captain? Are you alright?"

Jóhanna jolted on hearing that quiet voice, and then she sighed. She was currently in the co-pilot's chair of _Skögul_ — one of _Óðinn_'s ten V-97S Space Dhow support shuttles — flying up from her service headquarters after a few days of administrative work. She utterly loathed the use of the ship's materialisers; when they had learned of her hatred of the EDF version of a transporter, her friends started nicknaming her "Bones" in honour of a certain doctor from Georgia who also hated "having his molecules scattered from one end of the cosmos to the other." Besides, as a helicopter pilot type-rated on both the Eurocopter AS332 Super Puma and AS365 Dauphin 2, Jóhanna liked the idea of being able to _**fly**_ to her ship on one of _Óðinn_'s "boats"…as the Space Dhow had been universally nicknamed by EDF starship crews. Even more so — in following standard _Landhelgisgæslan_ tradition — all of _Óðinn_'s Space Dhows and her two Star Flare shuttles were given proper names. The V-94S's were named in after the All-Father's ravens who flew across Midgard to keep him informed on mortal affairs, _Huginn_ and _Muninn_. The Space Dhows were — in another nod to Norse mythology — named in tribute to ten of the _valkyrjur_ mentioned in various poems dating from the thirteenth century.

"I'm alright, Martí," the crimson-haired, green-eyed Terran-turned-Avalonian captain — she had undergone her body-swap in April — breathed out as she gazed appreciatively at her ship's _ashi'cha_, Martína Gloríönnudóttir, now piloting the craft back home. Like all her sisters, the silver-haired, grey-eyed Martína appeared to be a woman of about twenty years of age…and had the stunning looks of a fashion model that turned heads no matter where she went. Having been given the chance to have her newborn soul augmented with one of the thousands of souls trapped in the Dragon Jade currently in the possession of Moroboshi Negako, Martína sported an earring — shaded green, which made her "E-rank" in the eyes of tōshi in Japan — shaped like the Coast Guard's shield, complete with the anchor-and-chain sigil. Like all of _Óðinn_'s Avalonian-Icelander commissioning crew, Martína possessed the matronymic "daughter of Glorianna" as part of her name, so chosen in tribute to the fourteen millennia-old controlling sentience of the bioroid factory…which had been given life twenty years ago by Ganzo dai-Louc as his adopted daughter, Glorianna dai-Louc.

Martína smirked. "Still bothered by the fact that we're part of a crew of the first true warship in the history of Iceland, Jó?" she quietly asked; the captain was more than willing to allow the rigid formality demanded while in the presence of others to relax when they were alone or with any of Martína's sisters.

A nod. "Yes! What in the name of God was the Minister thinking of when he agreed to have the Coast Guard take control of something like _that_?!"

She waved ahead of _Skögul_ as the grey bulk of V/g _Óðinn_ loomed ahead of them; Martína was moving to dock the Space Dhow into one of the starboard boat bays. "Well, even if most space defence forces close to us are prepared to fight wars at a drop of a hat, they also deal with navigational hazards, search-and-rescue…"

The captain moaned. "Martí! That was a rhetorical question!"

A blush. "Sorry…"

Jóhanna shook her head as she gazed once more on her ship. Like all her sisterships, _Óðinn_ was a half-sized version of _Haida_ with only one main drive exhaust aft over a pair of secondary engines in lieu of the larger ship's four units. She also did not possess the pronounced bulges in the side of the main hull for use of warplanes like the F-96S Starfire. She did possess the triple-barrel 520 millimetre mixed-round main cannons of a Haida-class ship…though _Óðinn_ only had eight of those mounts in lieu of _Haida_'s eighteen; each were mounted in pairs atop and on the bottom of the hull forward, on both beams and aft. There were also eight banks of anti-ship missile launchers — fortunately armed with standard high explosive warheads; Jóhanna would NEVER use anti-matter warheads if, God forbid, she got into a battle — plus the standard battery of anti-aircraft missile and gun emplacements to adequately protect a two million tonne starship that was 520 metres in length, had an 76 metre beam, was 92 metres high in the hull (including superstructures atop and below the main hull) and stretched 147 metres from the top of the mainmast to the tip of the keel mast.

The most perverse thing of all in the captain's eyes was the fact that this ship had been quite painstakingly painted in the colours of a vessel in the Coast Guard. Her hull was medium grey overall, the forward-leaning diagonal blue-white-and-red "racing stripes" common to seagoing vessels of most maritime safety fleets worldwide painted on the main hull ahead of the bridge. The word **LANDHELGISGÆSLAN** in white-highlighted black was painted amidships with the English words **COAST GUARD** in smaller letters above that near the base of the superstructure. The Icelandic flag was — thanks to the other service markings on the ship — painted on the sides of the upper hangar deck with the hoist towards the bow. Finally, the pendant number **26** was emblazoned on the hull in white-highlighted black numbers close to the bow with the ship's name in gold on a brown rectangular field — in emulation of a Coast Guard surface ship's name plaque done in brass letters on a wooden board — at the stern close to the main engine exhaust. _We don't have_ **hull classification symbol numbers** _of all things on our ships!_ the captain had complained — to no avail — when she had first seen that.

"It'll be alright, Jó," Martína stated. "Other nations without standing armies or navies are accepting their own ships into their coast guard services or police."

The captain sighed. "True. And the Americans, the British and the Canadians are helping out with training. We also have veterans from the Army of Lum who live down in Iceland now. Even if they haven't joined the service full-time, they can be called up in an emergency." She shook her head as Martína guided the _Skögul_ into the starboard forward boat bay. "God forbid that sort of thing ever happens in the future."

"True."

The Space Dhow settled down on the deck as the bay was pressurised. As soon as the systems were shut down, Martína opened the hatch to allow her captain to step off. Awaiting her there was her executive officer, _Yfirstýrimaður_ Aron Henriksson. Another helicopter pilot by training, the native of Höfn on the southeast coast of Iceland was also a search-and-rescue specialist…and unlike his captain, actually _liked_ the idea of having such a well-armed ship represent his nation in the Earth Defence Force. "Sorry to catch you off-guard like this, Captain, but we have deployment orders," he warned after they had exchanged salutes, and then he handed her a dataPADD.

Jóhanna took the device in hand and scanned the message there. A second later, her jaw dropped as she took a moment to properly digest that missive from Heather Thompkins. "Oh, my God…is this for real?!" she demanded as she gazed on Aron.

The raven-haired, grey-eyed sheep farmer's son nodded. "Had to confirm it with both Captain Krylóv and Director Moroboshi before I came down here to wait for you," he said as they headed out of the boat bay for the nearest turbolift station. "I know that parallel dimensions and alternate timelines are possible; the old Sagussans proved that long ago. But to believe that something that we'd see as _fiction_ here…!"

A nod as they swept into a car. "Operations Room!" Jóhanna barked out before she tapped controls on the dataPADD to get into the ship's library databanks. "What about mustering people for emergency manning augmentation to the ship?"

"The Foreign Ministry's putting out the alert right now," Aron answered. "We'll have something akin to a proper sailing crew in four hours' time."

"Good. Once we're ready, move the ship over Toronto to allow Admiral Thompkins and her staff to shift over, then we'll go to Tōkyō to pick up the Director and her friends."

"Already being plotted out now," he automatically declared.

The captain grinned. While she didn't care too much for Aron's gung-ho nature, his willingness to think several steps ahead — proven in dozens of rescue flights over the previous eight years since he got his commission — had been the primary reason Jóhanna fought to make him her executive officer when she was given _Óðinn_. "Is Carol looking in on the potential approach course to wherever we have to go to pick up these kids?"

"She's analysing the data and plotting a course now," the executive officer stated as the car arrived at the corridor paralleling the aft bulkhead of the ship's operations room. "Lucky for us that the people on Sagussa now have done such detailed scans of the galaxy and all surrounding space with those Rover probes of theirs."

She nodded as they stepped into the operations room. "Captain on the deck!" a voice called out from nearby, making everyone in the room pause to attention.

"Carry on!" Jóhanna called back as she moved to take her seat at the forward end of the main plotting table. "So what will our first voyage look like, Lieutenant?"

Lieutenant Carol Douglas was an officer from the United States Coast Guard, recently transferred over from U.S.C.G.C. _Dallas_ out of Charleston. Given that the American maritime coastal force was more practiced in armed missions than their Icelandic brothers and sisters, the native of Macon in Georgia had been more than happy to volunteer as one of several exchange officers from her service as well as the United States Navy, the Royal Navy and the Canadian Navy on the _Óðinn_ until the locals got enough experience to fully crew their frigate. Even better, given the political necessity to have coast guardsmen and police officers man the Warrior-class starships allocated to several nations, how _Óðinn_ and her sisters might operate could potentially influence the creation of an international space coast guard-like service to act as a parallel to the Earth Defence Force. On being interviewed before being welcomed aboard as the ship's combat operations officer, Carol had confessed to Jóhanna that her dream now was to eventually command a United States Coast Guard starship.

"It'll be a mortar-shot flight path, Captain," the brown-haired and brown-eyed Georgia native stated as she called up a hologram of the galaxy. Icons then flashed up to indicate the points of departure and arrival, an upward-curving great circle route-like course connecting the two well clear of the galactic core. "Same general idea as what the _Kirkpatrick_ followed when they deployed to Yaminokuni, but no hugging the Galactic Barrier. Estimated time of arrival at the Planet of Shadows if we go flank speed ahead would be three hours and twenty-nine minutes from the instant we warp out."

"Possible problem areas?" the captain asked.

A shake of the head. "No, ma'am. There are areas believed to be held by the Goa'uld, but no one should be anywhere within a hundred light-years of the approach course."

Jóhanna nodded. The Goa'uld was a race of sentient aquatic serpentines that arose on a watery planet located about 15,000 light-years from Earth in the direction of the centre of the galaxy itself. Evolving into a parasitical form when they discovered the means to possess the bodies of the other race native to their homeworld over thirty millennia ago, the Goa'uld soon learned how to make use of a Stargate, a device left behind on their homeworld by an unknown race millions of years before. The Stargate — a device that could link with sister devices on other worlds and forge a one-way wormhole that was safe enough for sentient beings to traverse without the necessity of wearing life-support protection — soon gave the Goa'uld the chance to carve out a massive empire throughout the known galaxy. Twelve millennia ago, Goa'uld expansion brought them to Earth…where in the native hominoids, the "children of the gods" — as the Goa'uld arrogantly called themselves as a whole — discovered the perfect host bodies to help them make their star empire as vast and as long-lasting as possible.

The old Sagussans first encountered the Goa'uld during the early stages of the Age of Gisan'cha from 24,000-14,000 years ago. On noting how advanced the former race was in terms of technology, the latter race moved to destroy them…and, despite their many technological advantages thanks to the long-missing creators of the Stargate, were nearly wiped out. While the Goa'uld were vicious, the Sagussans were even more so…and they had no compunction about unleashing biological and chemical warfare weapons on their enemies to make the "gods" learn there were nastier things in the galactic neighbourhood. It was a Sagussan head scientist named Parah who had developed the "Dust Sickness" chemical warfare agent that attacked both Goa'uld and host, trapping the parasites in dying bodies with no chance to escape. It was only thanks to the War of Clone Rights — the apocalyptic five-century civil war that effectively destroyed the fourth Sagussan civilisation — that saved the Goa'uld from final extinction. Still, by the time the Goa'uld recovered enough to try to expand their domain, new starfaring races — the Seifukusu, the Noukiites, the Zephyrites, the Vosians and the Yehisrites — were claiming large swaths of space close to Earth, plus proving themselves to be quite energetic in dealing with the "gods" who dared try to talk down to them.

These days, while still the largest power area-wise in the galaxy, the Goa'uld were seen more of a potentially vexing nuisance than a major threat to Earth; their inbred arrogance, their dependence on the Stargate system and their need for human — "Tau'ri" in their language — host bodies severely retarded any drive to improve themselves as a species through scientific exploration. Around the same time Moroboshi Ataru was facing Redet Hensō in Tomobiki in the summer of 2009, a team of American Air Force special warfare operators led by an old friend of U.S.S. _Arizona_'s captain Tom Kazanski, Colonel Jack O'Neill, made use of the Terran Stargate to confront the supreme ruler of the Goa'uld, Ra, on his throne world of Abydos eight thousand light-years out-spin of Earth well beyond the borders of Vosian space. Thanks to the help of the Abydonians — descendants of Terran slaves transplanted to that world by Ra ages before — the Supreme System Lord was killed off, launching a massive internal struggle between his brother and sister system lords as they fought over his domain and his throne.

As everyone in the Earth Defence Force knew, Earth's Stargate — which was discovered in the sands of Egypt near Giza in 1928 by Professor Paul Langford of the University of Chicago; the device was brought to America by the United States Army eleven years later to prevent it falling into Nazi hands in an operation provoked because of the issues with the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail that had been dealt with by Professor Indiana Jones in 1936 and 1938 respectively — was currently being stored in a sub-basement of the Cheyenne Mountain Complex near Colorado Springs. And while the United States Air Force had total control over the ancient device and kept all information on it top secret from outsiders, it was just impossible to ignore the energy readings emanating from the Stargate, which could be detected by any Earth Defence Force ship.

_Stupid wing nuts!_ the American coast guard officer mused on reflecting that. _Can't see the real things in life even if you smacked them upside the head with a fuckin' ICBM!_

She turned back to brief the captain…

* * *

Meanwhile, forty thousand light-years away from Earth…

"It's weird seeing that, isn't it?"

Sitting in Ieyoshi Chikako's lap, Tomoe nodded in agreement as both watched the great black monolith-like structures high in the sky move to create a sense of night over the part of the interior surface of the Planet of Shadows. "The technology that made this place is far beyond anything I could have ever imagine," the young bioroid mused as she leaned her head back into the older woman's chest, allowing Chikako to hug her. "Not even the most advanced form of engineering the old race on Sagussa used could actually create something as long-lasting as this." She waved around her in emphasis. "If ever the chance comes that we could explore this place in earnest, it would be interesting to learn how old it really is and who built it in the first place."

Chikako nodded. After the brief contact through the Te'a between the _Program_ players now on the Planet of Shadows and their friends on Earth, most of the people currently marooned on the inside of the Dyson sphere had elected to go to bed. Chikako herself wasn't really tired, so she elected to stay outside for a bit and take in some fresh air — regardless of the artificial nature of the Planet of Shadows, its size certainly made the atmosphere over the interior surface seem natural to a native of Earth — before sleeping. Tomoe had elected to come with her. "So what do you plan to do when we finally get to Earth?" she then asked as she looked down at her young charge.

Tomoe looked up. "What do you intend to do, Onē-san?"

The older woman considered that for a moment, and then she sighed. "I don't know. I mean, the Japan of this universe is just so different than…!"

A rustling noise in the near distance caught her attention, making her head snap over as she scanned around the base of the drumlin hill the Shiroiwa boys' old ship had been parked on when the Kōbe girls had come to this place to meet up with them. Tomoe had also perked on hearing that. «Onē-san, did you hear that?» she asked telepathically.

Chikako nodded. «I did,» she replied the same way; if someone was close by and trying to listen in, keeping quiet verbally was wise. «Who could it…?»

She then gasped as someone bolted up from some nearby high grass to level what looked like a very nasty pistol right at Chikako's face. Said someone was a woman appearing to be about the same age as the Kōbe student from another dimension, possessing hazel eyes and caramel brown hair that was quite extraordinarily long; it was tied now in a high ponytail yet the strands went all the way down to the level of the woman's knees. She was human and Caucasian in looks…save for elegantly tapered ears, though they were slightly different in shape than the ears possessed by the Niphentaxians Chikako had seen earlier in the day. She was dressed in a form-fitting jumpsuit-like uniform with a knotted belt wrapped around her waist, a black symbol on her left breast looking like a swan about to take off from the ground. Gazing into the newcomer's eyes, Chikako was quick to sense both an aura of determination…mixed with something akin to pure insanity. "No…!" she croaked out in fright.

«**_ONĒ-SAN! DROP YOUR MIND-SHIELDS!_**» Tomoe screamed right into her companion's brain.

Chikako jerked, and then concentrated…

…as the newcomer's eyes suddenly glowed a very bright golden shade. Surprise then crossed her face…before it turned into pure agony. A scream of ungodly pain escaped her lips as she dropped her weapon and reached up to grip her temples. "Okay, stop it, Onē-san!" Tomoe barked as she hopped off Chikako's lap and ran over.

As Chikako relaxed herself, Tomoe grabbed the dropped pistol and moved away, covering the newcomer with it as she dropped to her side, the scream escaping her lips turning into a howling moan of sheer agony. Blood was now leaking from her nose, mouth and ear canals as footsteps echoed from the nearby warp sloop. Chikako turned, grinning in relief on seeing Kawada Shōgo charge out, followed by Kiriyama Kazuo and the members of his gang, all with Lawgiver pistols in hand. "_**GET INSIDE!**_" Shōgo screamed out as he levelled his weapon towards the drumlin and opened fire, followed by Kazuo.

Chikako was grabbed by Tsukioka Shō and pulled towards the sloop as Tomoe was pulled by Kuronaga Hiroshi to safety. Both Numai Mitsuru and Sasagawa Ryūhei teamed together to drag the dazed newcomer towards the sloop while their boss and the only two-time _Program_ player laid suppression fire towards the drumlin. Within thirty seconds of the newcomer's appearance, all of the Terrans-turned-Avalonians were back aboard the sloop. Tomoe broke free of Hiroshi to close and lock the boarding hatch as Mitsuru fireman-carried their prisoner towards Sick Bay. "What's going on?!" Chikako demanded.

"We got hostiles coming after our asses, that's what!" Shōgo barked back as he reached the accommodation ladder for the main pilotage. "Go, Mai!"

"Hai!" Takeshi Mai called back.

Instantly, the sloop began to tremble as manoeuvring jets thundered to life. A moment later, the small craft began to ascend from the ground. Now lancing towards it from the direction of the drumlin was blaster fire, though none of the shots got anywhere close to hitting the Niphentaxian-built ship. As Tomoe scrambled up to the pilotage to help with navigation, Chikako quickly sought out a familiar face. "Emiko-chan!"

Kikuchi Emiko came over to embrace her. "Yoshio-kun just spotted them about fifteen minutes ago with ship's scanners," she explained as they headed towards the ship's medical station. "They came on foot from beyond the drumlin, but no one spotted any ships close by." A wry smirk crossed her face. "Then again…"

"We weren't looking out for them," Chikako finished.

"Hai."

Both stepped into the medical station. There, Kazuo's gang were busy strapping their prisoner down on a diagnostic bed as Shōgo grabbed the Genesis Wand of Parah from a table and moved to scan her. "Okay, what have we got here?" he demanded.

_**Your prisoner is a female Vosian, physically age fifteen and chronologically age twenty-three, Controller**_, the ancient Sagussan terraforming device replied. **_She shows signs of malnourishment, a considerable number of physical injuries acquired over a long period of time indicative of a very intensive training course in the martial arts — now added by the cerebral trauma exposure to the psionic energy Ieyoshi Chikako's unshielded mind unleashed in her — and she is undergoing the initial stages of withdrawal from an acute addiction to something akin to benzoylmethylecgonine._**

"What the hell is that?!" Mitsuru asked.

Shōgo smirked. "This universe has got it all, Mitsuru! Even _druggies_!" he said with a cackle before adding, "Benzoylmethylecgonine is the fancy way of saying _cocaine_!"

The members of Kazuo's gang all gaped as they exchanged wide-eyed looks. "She's a coke junkie?!" Hiroshi exclaimed. "Holy shit! We got it all here, man!"

"Except the _Program_!" Ryūhei reminded him.

A nod. "True, you're right."

"Don't be too sure about that, Ryūhei-kun."

People turned as Ryūhei's girlfriend Shibata Miyo walked in. Possessing dark brown hair in two stringy ponytails at the sides of her head and almost black eyes, she was the youngest of three sisters who had been the founding members of their _Battle Royale_ club back in their home system; her older sisters Yōko and Masako were Mitsuru's and Hiroshi's girlfriends respectively. "What do you mean, Miyo-chan?" Shō asked.

"This is a member of Vos' Special Hunter Corps," Miyo explained as she pointed to the black swan-like insignia on the unconscious woman's breast. "They're psychic hunters, using their telepathic powers to track down people via what Vosians call someone's 'brainwave patterns.' That's the specific psychic energy pattern a sentient mind emits." She pointed to the side of her head in emphasis. "It's as individual as one's fingerprints or retina patterns; an expert psi-tracker could locate a target he or she wants even in a very dense crowd. Only two known races have the ability to mask their brainwave patterns from a Vosian's psi-tracking skills: Yehisrites and…"

"Avalonians," Chikako finished.

A nod. "Hai."

Shōgo's old classmate sighed. "That's why Tomoe told me to drop my psi-shields." She then gazed on him. "So why were you and Kazuo-kun firing at the drumlin?"

"There were more of them. A half-dozen according to Yoshio," Shōgo answered. "They obviously came in on foot from whatever ship brought them here; since we can track teleport beams, they probably had to huff it over quite the distance to get close to us. Now, if their home ship is somewhere up above ground…"

A moan. "Right…"

* * *

"Got it!"

Mai looked over. "What is it, Yoshio-san?"

Akamatsu Yoshio was smirking. "It must have come in cloaked, but their heat-trail is still as clear as day. And pretty fresh, too," he stated as he tapped controls.

People on the bridge — Kazuo now had the centre chair — gazed on the main view screen as a tactical readout was put there. "How long ago?" Yoshio's classmate asked.

"About two hours ago, Kazuo-san," the gentle giant explained. "It landed about three kilometres to the southwest from where we had the _Shiroiwa Express_ parked. Because we were so distracted thanks to our meeting up with Keiko-san and her friends…"

"We should have kept a damned eye out for people like 'em!" Niida Kazushi said from his place behind Kazuo's chair. "Shit! How many are we dealin' with?!"

"Doing bio-scans now, Kazushi-kun; now that we know where to look, the scanners can lock in on their biometric signatures," Honda Hitomi replied from the life sciences station off to one side. She waited for the readout to come in before she nodded in understanding. "All Vosian life signs, total of eighty-seven people. There were a total of seven — including the psi-hunter we just captured — in the field near us when we detected them. All of the others are currently on their ship."

"Yoshio, can we lock weapons on that vessel?" Kazuo asked.

Yoshio tapped controls. "Never thought you'd ask, Kazuo-san."

"Don't destroy the ship," Kazuo then advised. "Just damage it enough to prevent it from launching after us. If these are properly-trained troops…"

A nod. "Hai. Got a perfect target. Missile locked."

"Fire!"

Yoshio tapped a control. "Missile away."

* * *

On the ground…

"They took Hinanba…!"

On the ground close to where the Niphentaxian sloop had been sitting until minutes before, a hollow-eyed girl with sandy brown hair in a simple ponytail that stretched to her hips and deep green eyes tried not to weep at the thought of her best friend and psychic blood-sister — to say anything of her housemate at the Mensohn hunter's school, the same place where the famous renegade Nassur had spent the first fourteen years of his life — being taken by the damned pseudo-religious, copycat maniacs that had butchered over five million of her brothers and sisters six years ago with a interplanetary biological warfare missile packed full of the Hifuto virus. As the other members of Bujosur's "special team" came up to join her, Pamanba shook her head. "Hina-cha…"

"We'll get her back, Pama-cha," Ryōnba stated as she reached over to give her friend a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder. While she was not as close to Pamanba as Hinanba was, the crimson-haired, brown-eyed hunter — who had also been a classmate of theirs from the Mensohn school — did know how much Pamanba cared for her pe'cha.

Before she could say anything more, a strange noise echoed from overhead. Six pairs of eyes snapped up to look at the distant light of the Niphentaxian sloop, standing out well against the monoliths now blanking out the light of the Planet of Shadows' trapped sun from ground level. A second later, a sonic boom nearly shattered people's ears as a missile ripped down from the sloop to disappear behind the small hillock the hunters had walked around to get at their ultimate target. A second after that, a muffled explosion echoed in their ears as a flash of light and a column of smoke billowed off somewhere to Pamanba's left past the hill. "_**COLONEL!**_" Ryōnba's blonde, grey-eyed pe'cha Kanba screamed out as she raced off towards where their ship had landed.

The others charged off after her…

* * *

Kazushi chortled. "Nice shot, Yoshio!"

Yoshio nodded. "It was stupid of them to land that ship on that concrete pad there," he stated as people looked on the view screen image, which now showed the visual image of a ship on the ground some kilometres away. "If the missile had struck into soil, it would have burrowed into the ground a bit before exploding; we only have hard-contact warheads on this ship. The shock damage wouldn't have been that big."

"But since that was a solid concrete pad, the shock damage from the explosion and the shrapnel ruined their engines and flight controls," Mai added. "Anyone hurt, Hitomi?"

"No major life sign fluctuations, Mai," Hitomi answered from her station. "But I'm noticing something else, too. There appears to be minute traces of explosive very close to the bodies of almost all the Vosians I can detect right now."

"What type of explosive?" Kazuo asked.

"Similar to what you'd call cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine, Kazuo-kun."

"What's that?" Kazushi asked.

"The primary ingredient in C-4 plastic explosive," Kazuo stated as he tapped a control. "Shōgo, this is Kazuo. Have the Genesis Wand scan our current guest. She may have some sort of bomb somewhere on her person. Find it and remove it."

"You got it, man!" their resident medic called back…

* * *

Sick Bay…

**_I have located the explosive. It is in the device on her left wrist._**

"Lose it," Shōgo ordered. "Beam it somewhere where it can't do any harm."

**_Done._**

In a flash of light, the watch-like device on the prisoner's left wrist vanished. As the people in the medical station relaxed, Chikako felt tears appear in her eyes. "Just like the collars we wore in the _Program_…!" she hissed out.

Emiko's and Shō's hands immediately squeezed her shoulders in comfort…

* * *

On the ground, minutes later…

"Lecasur's Soul…!"

Kanba was staring wide-eyed at the warp sloop she and her team had travelled in to the fabled Planet of Shadows from Vos. Said sloop — shaped like a fat cigar with stubby wing-like protrusions on the hull and a large engine assembly aft — was now listing to port and heeling at the stern; the impact of the missile launched from the Niphentaxian ship shattered the aft port landing strut and knocked the craft over. Smoke emanated from the ground beyond the sloop's fantail, though the ship itself appeared relatively undamaged. Appearances weren't everything, of course; Kanba knew from her missions beyond the Homeworld that there would be some structural damage from the ship losing one of its landing struts like that. Getting the damned thing airborne after something like this — without the help of a dedicated salvage crew — would be next to impossible.

"Bastards…!"

Kanba turned to see Ryōnba staring teary-eyed at the distant light in the night sky indicating the presence of the Niphentaxian ship. "Ryō-cha…!"

"**_YOU MURDERING BASTARDS! COME DOWN HERE AND FACE US!_**" the red-haired hunter screamed out, shaking her fist in defiance at the symbol — in her eyes — of what had ultimately butchered so many six years before…and punched a fair-sized hole in the sense of technological elitism many Vosians often felt when dealing with outworlders. "_**YOU BASTARDS! GIVE US THE SCEPTRE! GIVE IT BACK TO US, YOU TRENCH-WAVE…UURKGH!**_"

Bloody coughs escaped her as she collapsed to her knees. "RYŌNBA!" Kanba screamed.

Others quickly moved to render aid…

* * *

**_Controller, there is a problem._**

"Talk!" Shōgo barked.

**_One of the captive Vosian's friends is now showing signs of severe internal bleeding due in part to the same type of addiction her friend possesses_**, the Genesis Wand reported. **_She also suffered slight damage to the frontal lobe of her cerebrum from close exposure to Ieyoshi Chikako's unshielded mind when the captive moved to attack her._**

"No!"

Eyes locked on Chikako. "Chikako-chan…!" Emiko gasped.

"Save her, Shōgo-kun! We can't let her die like that!" Chikako tearfully pleaded. "They're no different than us! Look at her!" She pointed at the restrained hunter. "Drug additions?! Having a damned _collar_ — or in this case, a _**bracelet**_ — with a BOMB on it?! We have the power to save her! Let's use it, Shōgo-kun!"

The other _Program_ players blinked. "She's right, Shōgo-kun," Miyo said.

"What do you mean, babe?" Ryūhei demanded.

"Psi-hunters in the Special Hunter Corps were almost always taken from their parents — _kidnapped_, not to mince words! — shortly after birth," his girlfriend stated. As the others paled in horror on hearing that, she added, "Raised in military schools whose conditions would make the Gulag in Stalin's Russia — worse, the labor camps in Hitler's Germany — look tame in comparison. Drilled day-in and day-out to be the perfect slave soldiers of their 'great leader.' If they rebelled — did ANYTHING that violated the rules in any minute way! — death was often the _easiest_ thing to happen to them!"

"Holy shit…!" Mitsuru gasped as the others paled; coming from a military-run dictatorship themselves, the _Program_ players knew what sort of police state such a government could unleash on those they stated they were "protecting."

"What's worse is when their graduation exercise came; that usually is around fourteen years of age," Miyo added. As the others winced — that would make such people the equal of second-year middle school students in the Greater East Asia Republic — she added, "They're made to go forth and kill any dissidents against their dictator's rule…and if there were any innocent bystanders in range of such an exercise or relatives to the targets, well…" A shrug. "They normally were killed to stay silent as having military formations of psi-hunters was seen as illegal on Vos…"

"Damn!" Hiroshi breathed out.

"Is there a brig on this ship, Miyo-chan?" Shō asked.

Miyo nodded. "Yes. Small and cramped…!"

"Let's get the long guns, guys!" Mitsuru ordered.

He and his friends ran out of the room. Shōgo then sighed. "Better talk to Kazuo."

With that, he headed up to the pilotage…

* * *

On the ground…

"Ryō-cha…hang on, Ryō-cha…!"

"Ka-…cha…"

Kanba jolted on hearing that very weak voice, and then she moved to cradle her pe'cha closer to her as Pamanba moved to render first aid. "Hang on, Ryō-cha!" she pleaded as she tried to probe into the other woman's mind to see what was happening.

Pamanba was scanning the downed hunter with a tricorder; she was the trained medic of their group. "Frontal cortex bleeding…?!" she hissed out as the readout came up on her screen. "What in Lecasur's name happened to her?!" She then reached into her first aid kit to draw out a syringe full of quintocerebron — a special neural synapse regenerative drug developed on Vos years ago; being a race of powerful psionics, it was natural for medical science to develop such things — before injecting it into Ryōnba's neck to feed it into her mind through the carotid arteries. "Okay, we can…!"

Teleport beams then echoed all around the group of psi-hunters, making all of them — save the distraught Kanba and the dazed Ryōnba, of course — jolt in shock before they moved to defend themselves.

"**_FREEZE! HANDS WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!_**"

Several harsh _click-clacks!_ echoed that command, which made the conscious Vosians all wince as they realised what their potential attackers were armed with: Zephyrite Peacemaker rifles…which, like the Lawgiver pistol, could shoot around corners and zero in on a target once a DNA scan was made. Slowly turning to face their attackers as they raised their hands — save for Kanba, who held the barely-conscious Ryōnba protectively closer to her — they braced themselves. Pamanba kept her tricorder close to her as she found herself facing a very handsome man about her age who looked like he was Terran or Fukunokami, possessing dark grey hair and pale blue eyes. "Don't…!" she began.

"Then don't make us," he calmly stated. "You move, we shoot. Do you understand?"

The conscious hunters looked around. At least two attackers on each of them, even the unmoving Ryōnba. One other person with some sort of bag slung over his shoulder…and the prize the Vosians had come to the Planet of Shadows to get in one hand. All of them were male, dressed in dark suits with high collars that looked very much like the standard type of uniform male members of the Niphentaxians' so-called "one true faith" wore to show their loyalty to the Living Goddess. And all of them looked as if they had stared into Purgatory itself and spat right into It, even the very icy-faced one with the slicked-back hair, the dark brown eyes and the look of a bird of prey.

Pamanba slowly nodded. "U-u-understood…"

"Good," the man who spoke to her stated. "Now, it's real simple. Our friends have a missile lock on your ship. You bring it to us in ANY way, shape or form…and we play, starting with your friend now in our sickbay. You bringing?"

Standing behind Yamamoto Kazuhiko, Shōgo tried not to roll his eyes too much on hearing the other boy repeat almost word-for-word what Shōgo himself had told Nanahara Shūya back on Oki-shima when they first met up after the only two-time _Program_ player had taken down Motobuchi Kyōichi with his sawed-off Remington Model 870 12-gauge shotgun to save Shūya's life. The other boys now surrounding the Vosians — save Kazuo, of course — were also desperately trying not to grin too much on hearing Ogawa Sakura's boyfriend do a reasonable imitation of their in-class medic when he was being a badass.

Fortunately for them, Pamanba shook her head. "No…"

The others relaxed ever so slightly. "Okay, here's the situation," Shōgo cut in. "We don't know why you're here or why you tried to sneak up on our friends when they were getting some fresh air earlier…and we don't care. I know you people can't sense our minds. That's 'cause our mind-shields are as solid as rocks and always up. We drop them, your brains get turned into fried natto. You don't want that. I got your pal stabilised on our ship right now. If you want, I can take a look at your pal in Blondie's arms right now. You try anything, you get an instant stroke. Got it?"

"You're not Yehisrites!" Kanba snarled…and then she winced on hearing a pained moan escape Ryōnba before she moved to cradle her close.

"No, we are Terran-turned-Avalonians," Kazuo answered. "We have no interest in your Confederation's civil war. Friends of ours are on their way here now. If they see you — or your friends on your ship — try to hurt us, they will be very cross."

Pamanba and the others exchanged looks. Before they had been forced on this mission by Bujosur, they had heard rumours of a potential space fleet whose technological power surpassed anything Vos could create massing in the home system of the Terrans and the Neptunians thanks to the Avalonians, the all-female race of bioroids that the Niphentaxians had held in bondage for over a century. Since Earth and Neptune were technically seen as being in Noukiios' immediate sphere of influence, whatever happened in that system was more of a concern for leaders in Suchkyuk, not Lecashuto. While there had been concern about moves by Uru to make open contact with the Terrans — something Vosians wouldn't have done themselves thanks to the Prime Directive of the Confederation, which forbade interacting with non-warp cultures…especially when they weren't politically or socially unified as well — to check any possible Ipraedies or Seifukusu moves into the system, there was little that could be done about it; the Civil War being fought to overthrow the Mikado was just too overwhelming for most Vosians.

Yet if the Terrans now had control of that fleet and were sending a ship to the Planet of Shadows — even by Vosian technology, travel to the Dyson sphere from the home system had taken at least three weeks thanks to the help of that wormhole that connected their sector of space with a region of space close to the Planet of Shadows — to rescue their fellow citizens, their own mission was now in severe jeopardy.

Especially since one of these Terrans had the _**Sceptre of Lecasur**_ in his own hand…!

* * *

Nearby…

"What the FUCK are they doing?! Why aren't they taking those short-lives down?!"

"Colonel, they ARE surrounded now…!"

A snarl escaped the rugged and handsome twenty-something man with the wavy dark brown hair and the cold blue eyes now standing on the listing bridge of his own warp sloop. As people around him scrambled to get repair circuits activated and move to lift the ship into the air so it could challenge the copycats' ship head on, he reached over to grab the long hair of his new "personal assistant" to yank her face-to-face. "I can see that, you dumb idiot!" he growled. "Those are _Niphentaxians_ out there! Any Vosian — especially any Vosian HUNTER — is worth a HUNDRED of those trench-waves!"

Fanba shuddered as the stench of the drugs and alcohol he often inhaled nearly overwhelmed her senses. "T-true, but st-still…!"

Bujosur snarled as he tossed the brown-haired teenager — she was actually about a year younger than the youngest member of his own special strike force/personal harem of love-slaves, Tsuna; she would have faced her own graduation exercise in a year's time hadn't she been pulled from the school along with several friends to assist in the quest for the Sceptre of Lecasur — and then he looked at the woman now seated at the weapons station. "Lock weapons on the copycats' ship. Shoot it out of the sky!"

"They've got a missile lock on us, Colonel…!" Rinba sputtered.

"DO IT!" he barked.

She rapidly nodded before turning back to her console…

* * *

**_Controller, there is a danger._**

Shōgo perked. Nearby, the hunters from Vos gasped. "What?!" he demanded.

**_The weapons on the Vosian ship are now being armed._**

"Bujosur…!"

Eyes locked on Pamanba. "What do you mean?" Kazuhiko wondered.

"He's our commander," the young hunter reported as she kept an eye on the tricorder's readings on the dazed Ryōnba. "He's determined to get the Sceptre of Lecasur and bring it back to Vos to present it to the Mikado. He won't let anyone…!"

"Is he the fellow who controls the explosive bracelets you're wearing?" Kazuo asked.

The hunters' eyes went wide with surprise before they all fell on the hated wristwatch-like devices wrapped around their left arms. Given that desertion from the Mikado's forces had become endemic in the last couple years — even from the Special Hunter Corps — Bujosur and his mission second-in-command/civilian government liaison Tarsur felt it was necessary to make sure those they selected to assist them in their mission didn't get second thoughts when it came to heading out into deep space to locate the Sceptre. And while a quest for the fabled mace-like device that the founder of the modern Confederation found drifting in space close to Vos while he commanded the _Unification_ in its mission to explore space beyond the homeworld after the Seifukusu Dominion's near-conquest of their world two millennia ago — which later became the physical symbol a President of the Confederation welded to mark his or her position — would make any of them heroes, being _trapped_ like this…

"Yes!" Pamanba spat out.

"Pama-cha…!" Kanba moaned.

Kazuo sighed. "Shōgo?"

"Do it!" Shōgo ordered. "On the ship, too."

**_Done._**

With flashes of light, all the hunters' cardiac bands vanished…

* * *

"What in Lecasur's name…?!"

Bujosur jolted on hearing Shanba's shocked cry of disbelief, and then he turned…

…before his eyes went wide on seeing _**bare skin**_ where the raven-haired, blue-eyed trainee hunter's cardiac band had once been. "Wha-…?!" he began…

* * *

"You want to do this, Kazuo?" Shōgo asked.

Kazuo nodded before he gazed on a misty-eyed Pamanba. "How many people on your ship were not chained down by those bracelets?" he asked.

The young hunter blinked as she tried to get over the total shock of these Avalonians actually FREEING her and her friends from the grasp of the cardiac bands. As the name implied, the band was designed to attack its wearer by inhibiting the autonomic nervous controls on the heart, thus making it stop beating. Such devices came with a micro-explosive that would physically rip apart the wearer if someone tried to remove the device without the proper tools. The cardiac bands were one of the most hated pieces of equipment in the Mikado's arsenal; even those people who were passionately loyal to the old hunter didn't care for them. And the man who had the Sceptre of Lecasur now — Pamanba was still stunned at the idea that the ancient alien mace-like device was actually **_sentient_**! — had just removed it without any sort of hesitation whatsoever.

Why?

Why?!

Why…?

Fingertips then touched the side of her head as she felt a **_presence_** surge into her mind for a moment. Images then flashed before her mind's eyes, specifically focusing on Bujosur and another man. _Tarsur_, Pamanba immediately realised. Like the colonel in charge of the mission, the stocky fellow with the stringy black hair and dull grey eyes was ultimately loyal to himself…though in Tarsur's case, he was also pretty weak-willed; he would always defer to those who were far stronger than he such as the Mikado. Being on a mission for the Sceptre of Lecasur — _The Genesis Wand of Parah?_ she then thought before confusion seized her. _What in Lecasur's name is THAT?!_ — would bring Tarsur fame…and with that fame, he would be ultimately protected from his many enemies.

And he had enemies…

Oh, did he EVER have enemies…

Suddenly, the replay of memories faded from Pamanba's mind as she felt the fingertips of the gentle man who had touched her pull away from her face. As she gazed into his brown eyes, she shivered for a second on sensing the total lack of emotion there…but then she blinked as an image flashed before her mind. This man — _Kiriyama Kazuo_, she thought on realising that she now knew his name — when he was a child, laughing and smiling as he played with friends, a heart filled with passion that burned as brightly as Vos' home sun. Feelings that ceased with the speed of a falling Executioner's war axe on the neck of the condemned thanks to a ground car accident that claimed his mother's life. That followed by nine years of an endless grey void that only ended on an island somewhere on Earth, when he had been forced to either kill or die.

He died…

…and then was reborn.

Thinking on that, Pamanba felt her soul chill with horror.

She thought she knew so much…

…and yet now she realised that she knew nothing at all.

"I apologise for that."

She jolted on hearing that quiet voice, and then she looked into Kazuo's eyes before her cheeks reddened. "It wasn't your fault," she whispered.

"That, only Those Who Are Far Beyond we mere mortals can ultimately judge," he stated as he stood up. "Shōgo, we have two targets on the ship to eliminate."

"What?!" Kanba gasped as the others of Bujosur's harem — who had (save, naturally, for Ryōnba) stayed totally still as they watched this strange man literally **_mind-meld_** with Pamanba — shook themselves out of the overwhelming shock they felt at being freed from the cardiac bands by alien _**strangers**_ who claimed to be what they had all heard was totally impossible: _**Male**_ Avalonian bioroids. "Wait! What are you doing?!"

"We will kill Bujosur and Tarsur, Kanba," Kazuo calmly stated, the lack of emotion in his voice on making that declaration causing all of Bujosur's former harem to blink several times in shock; they were dependent on the colonel for the kōkyū powder tablets they used to dull their minds from the emotional agony of being psi-hunters for the Mikado, the oddities of this first contact with the Avalonians were just too overwhelming to make them **not** panic over the idea of losing their only supplier of the mental suppressant which — even for a short while — chased away the revulsion and other dark emotions their being psi-hunters in the Mikado's service forced on them…but that didn't mean they actually liked the man himself. "By the memories I just observed in Pamanba's mind, I know now both of them were the driving force for your mission to seek the Sceptre of Lecasur…and they compelled you all to participate by entrapping you with the cardiac bands I had my friend destroy with the assistance of the Sceptre. With them removed from the scene, we can negotiate our way out of this situation with no acrimony from either side."

"Um, Boss, what the heck is this 'Sceptre of Lecasur?'" Mitsuru demanded.

Kazuo lightly smiled. "It's their term for the Genesis Wand, Mitsuru."

The other Shiroiwa boys all blinked. "Oh, fuck! Don't tell me this is some stupid case of multiple ownership claims!" Ryūhei moaned as he shook his head.

"That is the reason we must negotiate with our new friends concerning the Wand, Ryūhei." To Shōgo. "Shall we go introduce ourselves?"

"I need to know what these twerps look like," the older man warned.

Kazuo waved him up. After a quick sharing of memories, Shōgo tossed his first aid bag over to Pamanba. "Might be some things there to help your friend. We'll be right back." To Kazuo. "I'll do the druggie. You get the sleaze."

A curt nod answered him. "Agreed."

Shōgo gazed on the Genesis Wand. "Go!"

And with a flash of energy, both men vanished. "Wow…!" Kanba breathed out…

* * *

"Stay the fuck back!"

As soon as the realisation dawned with all the people on the bridge that their lives were no longer threatened by the cardiac bands, they instantly moved to express their weeks of built-up anger and frustrations at Bujosur. Fortunately for him, he was a well-skilled hunter; as soon as he realised what was happening, he moved to place himself at the back of the pilotage platform after drawing his sidearm to keep his would-be assailants back. This location was about the safest place for him; the twin gangways to his location were all within visual sight of him and he couldn't be attacked from behind thanks to a solid metal wall. "Why don't you put the fuckin' pistol down and fight us like a _real_ hunter does, Bujosur," Tulnba — a major in the Special Hunter Corps who commanded an action company that dealt mostly with internal affairs issues; her commanding that unit hadn't save her and her friends from the cardiac bands when Bujosur arranged for this mission to occur with Tarsur's help — snarled. "You've hidden behind your little sex dolls for far too…!"

Everyone on the bridge gasped in shock as a blinding flash of light exploded near the starboard gangway. Before Bujosur could see what was happening, a Lawgiver levelled on his gun arm and fired. At that short of a range, the whole limb from just below the elbow was blasted clear off by the Zephyrite pistol. Bujosur screamed out in agony as his mind registered the pain from the loss of his arm, collapsing to his knees as he moved to staunch whatever blood was pumping out of the intact part of his shattered limb. Before he could see who had just crippled him, shouts from the direction of the port gangway made him spin around just as Tarsur scrambled into view…

…and then his whole body was literally ripped in half by a massive bolt of energy. As both parts of Tarsur collapsed to the deck, Bujosur gaped in horror…

…before his own head exploded like a ripe watermelon being dropped from a high tower onto the ground.

Silence then fell over the bridge before the man who had just killed Bujosur — the Vosians present now all knew thanks to both Shanba and their own tracking powers that he was an Avalonian…which was said to be impossible as the bioroid factory was known to only create _**females**_ and not males — reached into his pants pocket to draw out what looked like a nicotine stick to put into his mouth. He then raised the Sceptre of Lecasur — whose crystalline mace-like head was now GLOWING with pure power — to the stick to light it up. By then, the person who had killed Tarsur — another Terran-like being dressed like Bujosur's killer…though this one, in the eyes of Tulnba and the others on the bridge, just _radiated_ a level of danger from every pore on his skin — walked up to survey the damage. He then relaxed as he lowered his Peacemaker rifle. "Who now commands this vessel?" he calmly asked.

Grateful that she had a subcutaneous universal translator inserted into her brain — that was standard kit for members of the Special Hunter Corps — Tulnba relaxed herself. Even if these Avalonians now had control of the Sceptre of Lecasur, this was a first contact of sorts between the Confederation of Vos and the Provisional Republic of New Avalon…and, by extension, the United Nations of Earth. The rules about such first contacts had been set in stone for centuries. "I believe that would be me," she stated with a polite and relieved smile, her voice echoing in accented Japanese to the two young men from Shiroiwa. "I'm Tulnba of Vos, major in the Special Hunter Corps of the People's Confederation of Vos."

A curt nod. "Kiriyama Kazuo of Earth and New Avalon, former third-year middle school student at Shiroiwa Junior High School in Japan on Earth," the newcomer introduced himself before waving to his friend. "My friend and classmate — and our in-house first aid specialist — Kawada Shōgo. It appears your people are also interested in the device now in my friend's hand. Obviously, we need to speak of this."

The Vosians all blinked…

_**To be continued…**_

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

1) A **Senior Enlisted Advisor** (short-form **SEA**) is a position title for the most-senior ranking non-commissioned member of a formation headquarters. This "neutral" term is often most used in joint-service commands, either national or pan-national in origin. In effect, Patrick Bullard would advise Heather Thompkins on the welfare of all other non-officers serving in the Earth Defence Force, regardless of country or specific service of origin; the various senior NCMs on the individual ships would report administratively to him when it comes to issues that specifically concerning the working servicemen in the UNEDF.

As an aside, the short-form term for Fleet Chief Bullard's rate and rating is **FLTCM(SEAL)**.

2) The **Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service** (**WRCNS**, nicknamed the "Wrens" as were their British counterparts) was the all-women's naval auxiliary to the Royal Canadian Navy. In real life, the WRCNS was established at H.M.C.S. _Conestoga_ in 1942, were dismissed from service in 1946, restored to service again in 1951 and were absorbed with the rest of the Navy into the Canadian Armed Forces at Unification in 1968. In the universe of this story, the WRCNS was formed in 1939, went into an administrative limbo after World War Two and were restored to active duty at the start of the Korean War.

As an aside, H.M.C.S. _Prestonian_ (original pendant **K662**, later given pendant **FFE-307**) was a River-class ocean escort frigate. Launched in the middle of 1944 and commissioned months later, she served on convoy escort duty for the remainder of the war. Decommissioned, she was placed in storage until she was upgraded and re-commissioned in 1953. She was finally decommissioned three years later. The ship itself was named after **Preston**, which was a town in Waterloo County of Ontario which — along with **Galt** (where _Conestoga_ was based) and **Hespeler** — united in 1973 to create the modern city of **Cambridge**.

3) A **tender** in the British Commonwealth naval tradition, is the name for a detachment from a larger unit. Thus, the new incarnation of H.M.C.S. _Conestoga_ is not an independent unit — as it was back in World War Two when it was the home station of the WRCNS — but a detachment of the new H.M.C.S. _Prestonian_ in **Kitchener** northwest of Cambridge. The proper name of the modern _Conestoga_ is **Naval Supplementary Communications Unit Conestoga** (**NSCU Conestoga**). Its purpose is to provide both reserve manning augmentation and operational support to **Canadian Forces Station Leitrim** (**CFS Leitrim**) southeast of Ottawa concerning signals interception for the Department of National Defence and the pan-national **ECHELON Network** run by Canada's signals intelligence agency — the **Communications Security Establishment Canada** (**CSEC**) — and its counterparts in the United States (the **National Security Agency** [**NSA**]), the United Kingdom (the **Government Communications Headquarters** [**GCHQ**]), Australia (the **Defence Signals Directorate** [**DSD**]) and New Zealand (the **Government Communications Security Bureau** [**GCSB**]). NSCU Conestoga and her sister units would be mostly manned by Navy members of the **Communicator Research Operator** (**COMM RSCH OP**) trade, who are responsible for the interception and analysis of electronic transmissions, including foreign communications. Members of this trade also operate computer-assisted radio direction-finding equipment in support of national search and rescue operations. Atop that, NSCU Conestoga and her sister units would assist in monitoring signals coming in from space.

4) Translations: **Kapitán Vtorogo Ránga** — Second-rank Captain, which is the equal of a captain in the Canadian Navy (NATO rank code OF-5); **Hǎijūn Shàngxiào** — Sea Army Senior Field Officer, which is the People's Liberation Army-Navy equivalent of a navy captain; **Deputy General** — English translation of the Hebrew phrase _Sgan Aluf_, which is equal to a commander in the Canadian Navy (NATO rank code OF-4); **Kolya** — Diminutive form of "Nikolái"; **Oniyat Heyl Hayam** — Sea Corps Ship (short-form **AChY**) (the standard English-language ship prefix for Israeli warship is **Israeli Defence Ship** or **I.D.S.**); **Annar Skipherra** — Second Captain, which is equal to a lieutenant commander in the Canadian Navy (NATO rank code OF-3); **SAR** — Search and Rescue; **Patreksfjörður** — Patrick's Fjord; **Þorskastríðin** — The Cod Wars; **Valkyrjur** — Plural of **valkyrja** ("chooser of the slain"), the old Norse word that eventually Anglicised as "valkyrie"; **Yfirstýrimaður** — Chief Mate, which is equal to a lieutenant in the Canadian Navy (NATO rank code OF-2); **U.S.C.G.C.** — United States Coast Guard Cutter (you **never** call a named ship in that service a "ship"); **Gisan'cha** — Age of Unbounded Technology; **Pe'cha** — A psychic form of blood-brotherhood/sisterhood where two Vosians (or a Vosian and an alien) forge a low-level psionic bond between them as a way of marking a close friendship; **-cha** — Vosian suffix honorific used in the same type of circumstance as the Japanese "-chan" honorific; **Trench-wave** — Vosian insult that implies that the one being called this is either an idiot, fool or simply disgusting (the term literally means that the person being insulted has brainwaves that are so low, they're in a trench burrowed in the ground).

5) In their own way as unified as the Canadian Armed Forces are, the **Israeli Defence Force** runs all its basic training to an Army-based standard. The **Rifleman 02** basic training course is the beginner full-time military training syllabus that is common to all parts of the IDF, even the Navy and Air Force.

6) The natives of **Iceland** (in the native tongue, _Ísland_) tend to think of themselves as a very large extended family. For a nation that is physically as big as the Island of Newfoundland in Canada or New York State, there are only a little over 300,000 people living on it. Because of that, the need to have family names was seen as unnecessary, so most natives of the island just have a given name and — for the most part — a patronymic; there are some who make use of a matronymic in case they wish to emotionally remove all links to their father. The Icelandic patronymic/matronymic normally ends with either **-son** ("son of…") or **-dóttir** ("daughter of…"). Those who do have family names are normally descent from those who had such names prior to 1925.

As an aside, the native language of Iceland is directly descent from the ancient Norse spoken by the Vikings a millennia ago. Because of that, the Icelandic alphabet includes several extra letters. The four primary ones are as follows:

**Þ** (lower case **þ**), called _þorn_ and representing a voiceless dental fricative (such as the "th" in "thin");  
**Ð** (lower case **ð**), called _eð_ and representing a voiced dental fricative (such as the "th" in "this");  
**Æ** (lower case **æ**), called as such and representing a diphthong similar to the vowel in "pie"; and  
**Ö** (lower case **ö**), called as such and representing a rounded "e" sound similar to the vowel in "end."

Atop that, vowels with the acute accent over them indicates variations from the standard vowel sound as follows:

**Á** (lower case **á**) is similar to the vowel sound in "cow" (the standard "a" sounds akin to that vowel in "cat");  
**É** (lower case **é**) is similar to the first vowel sound in "yeah" but shorter in length (the standard "e" sounds akin the first vowel in "eat");  
**Í** (lower case **í**) is similar to the vowel sound in "we" (the standard "i" sounds akin to the vowel in "win");  
**Ó** (lower case **ó**) is similar to the sound of "oh" (the standard "o" sounds akin to the vowel in "four"); and  
**Ú** (lower case **ú**) is similar to the vowel sound in "you" (the standard "u" sounds akin to the vowel in "in," though it is rounded when spoken).

Also note that in Icelandic, **Y** and **Ý** are spoken akin to "I" and "Í" respectively.

7) It should be noted that the standard Icelandic language ship prefix for vessels of the **Landhelgisgæsla Íslands** (the Icelandic Coast Guard; this term is normally shortened to **Landhelgisgæslan**) is **Varðskip** (**V/s**) (literally meaning "Patrol Ship"). This is always rendered in English as **Icelandic Coast Guard Vessel** (**I.C.G.V.**). For starships in the _Landhelgisgæslan_, the English-language ship prefix would be **Icelandic Coast Guard Starship** (**I.C.G.S.**)…but given the emphasis of acknowledging native language terms in the Earth Defence Force, the Icelandic term **Varðgeimskip** (**V/g**) ("Patrol Starship") would be used instead as the prefix for _Óðinn_.

A nod of thanks to the unnamed Icelandic reviewer of this chapter who advised me on the proper terms instead of what Google Translate produced. _Þakka þér!_

8) Notes on _The Senior Year_ characters who appear or are mentioned here: **Glorianna** first appeared in "What Price For Love?" (in that story, she became a genetic replica of Lum, thus eventually took the name "Glorianna Redet"); **Hinanba**, **Kanba**, **Ryōnba** and **Bujosur** appeared in "The Last Child of the Outland"; **Tsuna** also appeared in "TLCotO" but was never named (she would eventually get a name in _Lonely Souls_); **Pamanba** (created by Mike Smith) first appeared in "Shinobu's Best Friend"; **Fanba** and **Shanba** (both created by Mike) first appeared in "Dakejinzō's Story"; **Tarsur** (created by Robert Geiger) first appeared in "Last Hymn"; and both **Tulnba** and **Rinba** first appeared in "Lufy's Quest."

9) U.S.C.G.C. _Dallas_ (pendant **WHEC-716**) is a Hamilton-class high endurance cutter that served in the Coast Guard from 1967 until 2012, when she was decommissioned and transferred to the Philippines, where she was commissioned as B.R.P. _Ramon Alcaraz_ (**PF-16**). Unlike the Los Angeles-class attack submarine U.S.S. _Dallas_ (**SSN-700**) — which fans of _The Hunt For Red October_ should recognise — the Coast Guard cutter was named after a man, **Alexander J. Dallas** (1759-1817), who served as Secretary of the Tresury from 1814-16 under President **James Madison** (1751-1836).

As an aside, the origins of the name for the city in Texas which the submarine _Dallas_ took her name from is unknown; there are at least five possible explanations for this. The most commonly accepted explanation is that the city was named in honour of Vice-President **George M. Dallas** (1792-1864), a son of Secretary Dallas who was the running mate of President Madison's later successor, **James K. Polk** (1795-1849).

10) Fans of the movie _Stargate_ and its first sequel television series _Stargate SG-1_ should recognise the name of the race mentioned by Carol Douglas mentions in her briefing; the **Goa'uld**. In the continuity of the _Stargate_ series, the events of the 1994 movie starring Kurt Russell as Colonel **Jack O'Neill** and James Spader as Doctor **Daniel Jackson** — as noted above — were moved ahead to the summer of 2009. As to the fate of Earth's Stargate currently stored at the **Cheyenne Mountain Complex** and any potential interactions between the Goa'uld and the Terran/Avalonian alliance, that will be shown in another story.

As an aside, the actual location of the Goa'uld homeworld (designated **P3X-888** in the _Stargate SG-1_ fourth-season episode "The First Ones") and **Abydos** was never indicated in either the movies or television series. I place their locations vis-à-vis Earth thanks to a fan-made galactic map that can be found by searching for "stargate map" in the Google search engine. The map in question is the third one displayed, showing an overhead view of the galaxy in natural colours with locations indicated by red dots.

11) Kawada Shōgo saved Nanahara Shūya from Motobuchi Kyōichi in the _Battle Royale_ manga story named after the first character (manga episode #13).

As an aside, the shotgun model named in the manga that Shōgo is mentioned to have been given at the start of his second run through the _Program_ at both the _BR_ Wiki and Wikipedia — a "Remington M32" — does not exist in real life, so I adjusted the model number to a type that did exist in real life. The **Remington Model 870** is one of the most popular pump-action weapons produced by that company. First designed in 1951, it is commonly used by homeowners for sport-shooting, hunting and self-defence purposes. It also is quite commonly used in law enforcement circles as well as various military forces worldwide, including the Department of Defence in the United States and the Department of National Defence in Canada. The **gauge** — which indicates the bore diameter — noted here is my choice; such was never mentioned in the manga.

12) Vosian biological, cultural and historical notes:

Vosians as a rule live approximately five hundred years. They age like Terrans do until the cusp of puberty (about age fourteen), when they endure **Stop Time**. After that, their bodies literally freeze in place when it comes to aging until the fifth anniversary of Stop Time, when an **Age Day** occurs and they advance one year genetically in one day's time. Both Stop Time and Age Days are quite emotionally — and for Vosian-alien hybrids, physically — harrowing days to experience.

Almost all of Nassur's people do not believe in a "hell" such as Christians or Jews on Earth believe in. In their eyes, when one dies, one either passes directly into Heaven…or must spend time in **Purgatory** to cleanse one's soul of sin before passing on to Heaven.

The **Prime Directive** mentioned here is based on the Starfleet directive noted in _Star Trek_.

Finally, **Lecasur** is the name of the man who — two millennia ago — united the Vosians under one government after leading a successful resistance movement against the Seifukusu Dominion. An explorer at heart, he would eventually resign from being the first President of the Confederation to command a ship, the _Unification_, which charted much of local space around the Homeworld until it disappeared under mysterious circumstances many years later. As noted above, he is the man who discovered the Genesis Wand of Parah drifting in space while commanding the _Unification_; he brought the device back to Vos to have it analysed. After his disappearance — and thanks to the veneration almost all Vosians felt towards him; in essence, he is that planet's version of **George Washington** (1732-99) — the alien device was named the **Sceptre of Lecasur** and became the physical symbol of the right a sitting President of the Confederation had to hold office.

As an aside, the **Mikado** (who first appeared at the end of "Dakejinzō's Story") — because he seized power in a military _coup d'état_ a hundred years ago — never had the chance to hold the Sceptre in his place as the "Great Leader" of Vos. Shortly after he had seized power in a move to do away with social stagnation and government corruption, **silent ones** (the Vosian version of ninjutsu-ka) working for a rival school — the Mikado was of the **Dali'lama** school — stole the Sceptre and transported it to the Planet of Shadows where it could be hidden. The quest to retrieve the Sceptre is the primary instigator of events in the _TSY_ stories "Nassur's Story," "Be Forever Nassur" and "Stage Zero."

13) **Cardiac bands** were also first shown in "Nassur's Story." These devices were the means by which the Mikado could force **Nassur** (who first appeared in the _TSY_ story "Return of Memory") to seek out the Sceptre of Lecasur; such devices were fitted on Ataru, Lum, Shinobu, Mendō and Megane to ensure they could be used as hostages to force Nassur to bend to the Mikado's will. And yes — long before either Mike Smith or I ever heard of _Battle Royale_ — the cardiac bands were fitted with a self-destruct option to ensure no one save the person who had the master control unit could remove them.

14) **Kōkyū** is my name for a cocaine-like powder that had similar addictive abilities when ingested (as a tablet) or snorted (in powder format) to cocaine. I first used this name in "The Last Child of the Outland;" in that story, Bujosur got Hinanba, Kanba, Ryōnba, Tsuna and two other female hunters addicted to kōkyū as a way of forcing them to become his literal sex-slaves and personal hit squad.


	9. Lost Siblings

Tomobiki, the Moroboshi home, two hours before midnight…

"The _Óðinn_?"

Heather Thompkins nodded. "It's the only ship with a reasonable sailing watch now available to us that can deploy as soon as possible," she replied over the dataPADD from her office aboard _Haida_. "All the Type Ones — plus those Type Twos and Type Threes completed to date — have their plank owners in basic training now, remember?"

Gazing at the image of the Canadian rear admiral who was her immediate military subordinate in the Earth Defence Force, Hiromi sighed. "Well, it can't be avoided," she noted. "How soon will we be ready to sail out for the Planet of Shadows?"

"Call-up of volunteers from the veterans of the Army of Lum who settled in Iceland is being done right now. She'll be ready to deploy by three o'clock local time; that's midnight your time. There'll be a brief commissioning ceremony over Þingvellir before the ship moves out. Jóhanna intends to sail her ship to Toronto to pick up my staff, and then move to Japan to pick up you and those coming with you before we head off into the Delta Quadrant; I am planning to head over to be there for the commissioning ceremony, though." Heather then smirked. "Just in case, I had Kolya call Jessica's office to see if she, Dean and Martin were up to a little space trip."

The reborn emperor blinked, and then she grinned. Having the _**War Hawks**_ come along on this trip would make Hiromi feel much more confident of the overall success of the mission, even more so than having all the tōshi who could come for the ride as had been done for the trip to Yaminokuni. Much that Inaba Mizuho had come to fully bind herself body and soul with the Staff of Gihan — and had made quite an impact when she found herself dealing with paranormal incidents over the last few months — she was still a third-year middle school student and not a professionally trained soldier. The former members of the 1st Canadian Specialised Warfare Unit were both trained AND experienced in dealing with paranormal issues. While such had not been really harped on in history books in recent years, the battles between the War Hawks and their opposite numbers from Germany — the Übermenschen Gruppe created by Negako's spiritual "grandfather," the multi-millennia-old _Rittmeister_ Josef _Freiherr_ von Taserich — between 1942-45 were, when measured on the scale of total energy expended, the equal of any major "fight scene" that had rocked the planet Yiziba in recent decades. With Earth's Jewel Warrior/Grandmaster of the Tensei-ryū and her three closest friends — a self-taught sorceress from Québec who was rated as an arch-mage in total magical power, a woman from Manitoba infused with the living spirit of a Slavic _žar-ptjcja_ that had been trapped for centuries in a crystal of ebony meson thanks to an early "experiment" done by Josef von Taserich, and a man from New Brunswick who had been blessed by a Mi'kmaq shaman to be the ultimate tracker and manhunter — at their sides, the chances of surviving any local threat such as the Goa'uld unscathed increased astronomically.

"Well, when one does require the best, one calls the best," Hiromi then stated as she icily smiled, leaning her chin on her crossed hands. "We'll be waiting."

Heather smirked at that compliment. "See you soon."

The communications link with _Haida_ was then cut. A fingertip then tapped the living room table, making Hiromi gaze on Otonashi Meru. [**YOU SURE THAT'S ENOUGH?**] the psychosomatically-mute teenager from Yokohama asked via her cell phone screen.

"I pray it is, Meru-san," Hiromi answered. "Space isn't a very nice place. And there are races whose existence hasn't been made public in the last couple of years. One of them is a rather loathsome and arrogant race of parasites known as the Goa'uld."

Meru winced. [**PARASITES?!**]

"You mean the space serpents?"

Hiromi perked as Luna Lovegood walked in from the direction of the Moroboshi dōjō; all of the people from Mahora — save Nagase Kaede — had returned home shortly after the shopping trip for the Shiroiwa girls was done. "You know of such beings, Luna-san?"

"Alejandro once told me of them," the British magical naturalist stated as she sat down, and then nodded her thanks as Kotatsuneko handed her a cup of tea. "While they've been all but forgotten by magical humans, other magical species on this planet remember the Goa'uld quite well. Indeed, you're right in calling them very arrogant and loathsome. They are the most selfish race you would ever encounter, I believe. Actually pretending to be gods when they were nothing more than a metre in length and were totally helpless outside whatever host body they were possessing."

Meru winced as Hiromi nodded. "Aye, that is true," the reborn emperor of the Hàn mused before sipping her own tea. "One of them — or so Kyech-san told us when we were on Okusei — pretended to be Yù Huáng, the Jade Emperor himself. Another called itself Amaterasu after the Shintō sun goddess and ancestor of the Imperial Family here in Japan. Even more…" A shake of the head. "Well, pity for them that Earth has been a hotbed of metahuman and paranormal activity since the time _Homo sapiens sapiens_ first began to arise in Ethiopia. The Immortals engaged in the Game, magicals such as yourself, immortals like Onē-san's creator and his own dark 'sire' — not to mention Lincoln-daitōryō — whose lives are influenced by meson, the many Slayers who've hunted demonic vampires over the generations, the vampire and lunar therianthrope tribes…" She then smirked. "As a matter of fact, would you wish to know what ultimately drove the Goa'uld away from Earth around the time of the First Dynasty in Egypt?"

"Who?!" Luna asked as she and Meru gazed on their host.

"Onē-san's 'father,' so to speak…not to mention his own sire."

Luna gaped. "Master Hosan and _Rittmeister_ von Taserich?!"

"Aye. Both of them — this was shortly after Master Hosan learned how to properly control the ebony meson within his own blood without going insane — devised a variation of the so-called 'dust sickness' that robs a Goa'uld of all control over its host body by inhibiting the host's nervous system…and, for spice, also traps the Goa'uld within its host body, denying it the ability to escape and seek out a new host." Hiromi then sipped her tea. "The old Sagussans — in fact, it was Head Scientist Parah, the man who created the Genesis Wand that Master Shōgo now controls — developed the original version of the Dust Sickness. Nearly wiped out the Goa'uld thousands of years ago, when they were still using the bodies of the other sentient species native to their homeworld. After hearing about what they often do to those worlds they rule from Kyech-san, I find myself wishing the old Sagussans had finished them off."

Luna blinked on hearing the Dragonspeaker's childhood name. "Did Kyech fight them?"

"She did. About a year ago — just after the Americans did away with Ra on Abydos — she sensed an incursion by Apophis' people on a planet in the Imperial Coremarches. The Noukiites call the world _Ch'eng-ch'ehek_; outsiders call it 'Chengsei.' It was a new frontier colony, established only in the last fifty years. Apophis wanted a world that was close to territory controlled by a rival of its, Ba'al. It chose Ch'eng-ch'ehek."

Another tap of a fingertip on the table. [**HOW COME YOU'RE USING 'IT' TO DESCRIBE THESE THINGS?**] Meru asked via visual messaging on her phone screen.

"They're asexual, Meru-san. They don't have separate genders like we do."

[**LIKE SINGLE-CELL ORGANISMS, YOU MEAN?**]

"Hai. Yes, they do allow their hosts' gender to influence their behaviour, but they are all the same underneath in their true bodies." A shake of the head. "Anyhow, when she sensed the Jaffa — those are Terran-descent slave soldiers who have been both brainwashed and genetically manipulated into serving the Goa'uld as their personal shock troops — attacking the settlement on Ch'eng-ch'ehek, Kyech-san teleported herself over. She saw a small squad of them destroy a very beautiful grove of native redwood trees." Hiromi smirked. "She didn't care to watch something like that. The Noukiites had transplanted some of their native k'oni — mongooses — to that world. Unlike their Terran counterparts, k'oni — which are the size of large dogs — like lounging in high places while they wait for prey to come their way. The redwoods on Ch'eng-ch'ehek had thick-enough low branches to allow them to do just that. When the grove was destroyed, it upset the k'oni. Kyech-san sensed it, and then proceeded to express her displeasure to Apophis personally. It wasn't killed — which was regretful given how much it was moving to take Ra's place as the Supreme System Lord, their emperor — but many of its Jaffa were slaughtered. After she scared it with a display of her own powers, Kyech-san warned the First Prime — the senior Jaffa — that any incursions by the Goa'uld in Noukiite territories would not be tolerated, and then she sent them on their way."

The older woman's silver-blue eyes twinkled. "How do Goa'uld view Yizibajohei?"

Hiromi blinked. "Kyech-san told you about _them_?!"

Luna nodded, an amused smirk crossing her face. "She did."

The reborn emperor then did a very good imitation of the person in the Edvard Munch series of paintings known commonly as _The Scream_. "_**AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! DON'T SAY THAT CURSED NAME! ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE YOUR GOD DIE?!**_" she wailed out.

Luna collapsed in laughter as Meru slapped the table, her body quaking in mirth…

* * *

Meanwhile, close to a Dyson sphere 40,000 light-years from Earth…

"They are such illogical creatures, are they not?"

The assistant engineer aboard the Nagussan starship _Ganshiki_ perked on hearing his lover's words, and then he nodded. "The Goa'uld, you mean." At Naromo's nod, the brown-haired, brown-eyed Terran-born teen with the moustache and goatee framing his lips and a dimple on the left cheek shrugged. "Indeed. They gained so much from their discovery of Anquietas artefacts such as the Stargate system…yet they refuse to take advantage of those discoveries and advance themselves as a species. To say anything of not recognising there are many other sentient species living in this galaxy who would not desire to have themselves enslaved by such beings." His fingers tapped controls on his systems board as various readouts flashed on the holoscreen before him.

"No different than the Asgard," Naromo noted as she gently embraced her lover from behind, allowing her chin to rest on Kaeru's shoulder as she monitored his work. "One race that were so afraid of the coming of Entropy that they resorted to cloning to remain alive…while the other race, presuming themselves to be living deities, have allowed themselves to remain still, confident in their invincibility."

A corner of Kaeru's mouth quirked in a faint smile. "We certainly convinced them of the fallacy of their own beliefs, did we not?" he inquired.

A gentle purr as Naromo's well-formed lips touched the side of his neck above his collar. "Indeed we did, Kaeru-kun," she whispered as she allowed the neutronium-hard control over her emotions to fade and her feelings for the one she knew she would spend the rest of her life with to billow forth with the force of a supernova.

Kaeru himself smiled as he tried to ignore her roaming hands as they moved to feel the contours of his body underneath his silver jumpsuit. Had this been no more than two years ago, the very idea of Naromo being uncontrolled in her emotions in such a public place as the main engineering control room of the _Ganshiki_ would have been simply impossible to contemplate. But in the wake of the coming of the Terran woman who bore the Seeker device known as the "Keystone Power Jewel" and her three closest friends to Nagussa, such social taboos were disintegrating as quickly as a Goa'uld ha'tak would under _Ganshiki_'s weapons…just like what had been done a half-hour before when the seven kilometre-long, cigar-shaped star cruiser with fore-and-aft warp pods, eagle-like wings amidships and a pyramid-like structure forward came across such a vessel orbiting one of the worlds used by the Majujjou as the site of a place of meditation.

When _Ganshiki_'s shiplady, Stari, contacted the leader of the Goa'uld — a minor system lord calling itself Qetesh; the Nagussans knew of the Goa'uld's asexual nature, so they refused to use gender pronouns to describe them — to ascertain what they were doing here, everyone on the pilotage was then bombarded with the typically loud, obnoxious and illogical white noise such a being always expressed when dealing with aliens…especially aliens who were technologically far more advanced that they. Before Stari could try to diplomatically calm things down, the ship's chief science officer then detected a curious energy wave emanating from the direction of the so-called "Planet of Shadows." When Stari asked Keri for a detailed analysis of the energy and its possible origins — enraging Qetesh for a reason that simply did not make sense at all to any of the Nagussans — the pretty Hiyaken-descent scientist with the chestnut-shaded hair and the twinkling turquoise eyes under reading spectacles said one word:

"Parah."

To any Goa'uld, the name of a being that literally personified Entropy Itself.

Naturally, Qetesh bellowed out that the Nagussans were allying themselves with the Sagussans in defiance of their "gods" — which was such an illogical statement, it actually stunned the Nagussans; neither they nor the Sagussans believed in deities whatsoever! — and then ordered _Ganshiki_'s destruction. Of course, such could not be allowed, so Stari granted Tsuri permission to "indulge herself." The dusky-skinned Hiyaken-descent woman with the raven hair and sky-blue eyes — in a perfect reflection of what her genetic ancestors, who were a warrior race which had over the last three millennia carved out an impressive interstellar empire close to what the Fifth Republic of Nagussa considered its home domain, would have done in the face of such a threat — did that…and in one salvo of particle-proton beams that could level any of the habitations on Nagussa, the ha'tak and all aboard were rendered into their component atoms. Once that unnecessary annoyance was dealt with, Stari exchanged pleasantries with the Wise Ones on the planet below before directing the _Ganshiki_ towards the star-encompassing neutronium sphere that had been inhabited by a race that had sneered at so-called "great races" like the Anquietas and the Asgard…before the Kurosans were destroyed five million ago before by the A'g'sans in a war that badly fractured the latter race and forever changed the destinies of both Nagussa and Sagussa.

"Naromo-chan…" he then hissed out as her hands found something quite interesting under his clothes. "We cannot do this at this time…"

"Why?" she coyly wondered.

A sigh. "Because we are both currently on duty and some of the others might desire to join in our mating," Kaeru whispered as he reached up to squeeze one of her hands in a show of deep affection. "Would you desire something like that?"

The Engineer-First tensed on hearing that, and then her blue eyes flashed with anger as she scanned around the room. To her personal relief, all the other females in the room were busy performing their duties. Unlike the situation two years before, the explorer now had a proper crew of about three hundred sentients. Before the Terrans calling themselves the "War Hawks" as a group were guided to Nagussa by a wandering Majujjou mystic, the _Ganshiki_ only had five officers assigned to it: Shiplady Stari, War-First Tsuri, Science-First Keri, Engineer-First Naromo and the only male assigned to the vessel — and Stari's lover — Ship-Second Shan; Kaeru himself was officially allowed to join the ship's crew as the Engineer-Second sometime later. Inspired by the fact that three of the wandering Terran metahuman warriors were female, the Defence Directorate was soon deluged by many female applicants. Since it was simplicity itself to train such applicants thanks to hypnosis training done while the subject was in the Dreamtime — and the Nagussans simply had no care at all about gender bias — the _Ganshiki_ and her nine sisterships were soon fully manned…even if Naromo often found many of the new crew ogling her lover in a more than acceptably platonic fashion.

She then gazed back at him. "Do you no longer desire me?" she asked.

He tried not to wince on sensing the tone of pain in her voice. _While Dean-san and her companions did so much to allow us to finally evolve as a people in the wake of what they discovered concerning Seiyoku's plot to keep us from naturally reproducing, there are some things I truly wish Naromo-chan had NOT learned about expressing her emotions_, he quietly railed to himself before reaching up to squeeze her hand in reassurance. "Naromo-chan, I would gladly engage our reproductive functions to such an extent that would render us both quite insensate for an entire day," he playfully whispered into her ears, which made her shudder as he warmly embraced her. "But we cannot do it at this time. We need to investigate the curious energy emissions from Head Scientist Parah's device that Keri-chan just detected. Once there is opportunity…"

With that, he nearly overwhelmed her with a tongue-filled kiss. The blonde Tanana-descent woman nearly passed out on feeling the torrent of passion rip through her from that hot contact, and then she moaned as he pulled away from her. "There WILL be opportunity!" she then mewed before turning to walk out of the control room.

Once he was alone, Kaeru calmed down as he turned back to the readouts. He then tensed as one of the newer members of the crew, Engineer-Apprentice Fahn — a Tanana-descent Nagussan like Naromo — walked over to him. "She desires to mate with you as soon as it is practicable, Kaeru-kun," she warned as her hazel eyes twinked with amusement.

Kaeru gazed in appreciation at the crimson-haired woman. Unlike many of the females who had joined the _Ganshiki_'s crew in the last couple of years, Fahn had no desire to mate with a male whatsoever. Since the "great awakening" two years ago, Fahn had pursued a relationship with Tsuri, though they were not as intimate as Kaeru was with Naromo, much less than Shan was with Stari. Because of that, Fahn was the only female outside the _Ganshiki_'s commissioning crew that Naromo trusted to be anywhere close to Kaeru whenever she herself was not close to him. "True. Still, there is a pronounced conflict between what _**I**_ consider practicable and what _**she**_ considers practicable." He then hummed. "Perhaps that is what Martin-san once advised when it came to how easily and how frequently many females on Earth — in his experience — altered their desires when it came to focusing their attention on such intimate matters."

"In that, he was quite correct," she admitted. "Tsu-chan and I have been debating whether or not to birth offspring of our own. At one time, we feel that the time had come…and then, a score of minutes later, we believe it is far too soon." She then smirked at him. "In a way, males such as you and Shan-kun have it easier."

"Do not be so quick to state that, Fahn-chan," he advised. "According to Dean-san, Jessica-san and Heather-san, males on Earth — especially in their adolescent years — can be just as…'flighty,' I believe their term was?" A shrug. "I just found Naromo-chan to be so overwhelmingly attractive both physically and mentally that I simply could not conceive of any other person I would desire as my life-mate."

"In that, you were certainly not in error," Fahn stated. "It is how I felt with Tsu-chan when I fully came to comprehend the concept of love and what it would mean."

"And she unto you."

"And she unto I, of course."

Both gazed at each other, and then they smirked before Fahn returned to her station while Kaeru took a breath, and then resumed concentrating on his own work…

* * *

The pilotage…

"Keri-kun."

Keri blinked on hearing her commander's voice. "Yes, Stari-kun, what is it?"

"You are nibbling the starboard support frame of your reading spectacles."

A flash of annoyance appeared in Keri's turquoise eyes as she gazed upon her blonde, blue-eyed friend and current commanding officer. "I am aware of that, Stari-kun," she icily explained. "I did not need that particular fact verbally explained to me."

"_Why_ are you doing that?" Stari then emphasised.

"Because I am disturbed by the energy readings I am detecting now from the Planet of Shadows," the Science-First stated as she leaned back in her chair.

The _Ganshiki_'s shiplady perked. "Elaborate."

"As is known, the various Sagussan _haijo-ju_ were deliberately rendered inert before Head Scientist Horan disposed of them midway through the War of Clone Rights," Keri said. "Furthermore, the Separation Treaty between our predecessors and the Fourth Republic of Sagussa forbade the presence of devices of either world from being in the recognise sphere of influence of the other race. Thus, Stari-kun, I find it beyond curious as to WHY the Genesis Wand of Parah would be on the Planet of Shadows."

The other woman took that in, and then she sat back in her own chair as she considered that. Like all of the modern generation of Nagussans, Stari had been thoroughly programmed in the long history of the four generations of sentient races — "republics" as they were traditionally called — that had lived on Nagussa over the previous ten million years. With that came knowledge of their spiritual counterparts on Sagussa, which was in a solar system on the virtual opposite side of the galaxy from where Nagussa was located. And while the natives of both the Nagussan and Sagussan Fourth Republics had been similar genetically — extremely long-lived Terran-type humanoids with telepathic and empathic powers and the subconscious ability to sense the Te'a in their minds — they had developed on different lines over the millennia. Nagussans were traditionally creatures dominated by rationality, while Sagussans were quite willing to give vent to their emotions. Eventually, an illogical fear of the Te'a Itself and Its Influence on all mortal things triggered a quest on Sagussa to create weapons powered by such energy — the various models of the _haijo-ju_ — which, when that was mixed with other various social problems, unleashed themselves in the War of Clone Rights.

Because of their many physiological similarities — and an understandable concern about potential conflicts between two such technologically-advanced societies — the Fourth Republic Nagussans and their Sagussan counterparts had wisely decided to divide the galaxy between their home systems into two broad spheres of influence. This division — formally codified in the Separation Treaty that went into effect twenty-five millennia ago — placed the Kurosans' old habitation deep within the Nagussan sphere of influence. And even after the final extinction of the Fourth Sagussan Republic and the rise of the Fifth Republic in the so-called "Grand Design," no Sagussan vessel — not even the Gatherer when it had travelled from world to world over a period of ten millennia to seek out potential Daishi'cha — had penetrated past that invisible line.

So what was the **_Genesis Wand of Parah_** of all things doing on the Planet of Shadows?!

"Pilot," Stari then called out.

Jonn looked over her shoulder. "Yes, Shiplady?"

"Estimated time of arrival at the Planet of Shadows?"

"A tenth-day," the caramel-haired Aojiroi-descent woman with the brown eyes replied.

Stari nodded. "Well, we shall ascertain the answer to that very soon."

Keri nodded in turn as she turned back to her scanners…

* * *

On the Planet of Shadows…

Tulnba bowed her head to the two teenagers standing before her. "Thank you for your willingness to assist us in this matter, Motobuchi-iinchō. Shimamura-iinchō."

Motobuchi Kyōichi and Shimamura Kimie returned that with their own nods. "It was our pleasure, Tulnba-shōsa," the former replied. "We realise the situation concerning the Genesis Wand is still unresolved. Still, you didn't deserve to be marooned here so far from home. To say anything of being trapped by those cardiac bands."

The company commander of the Special Hunter Corps' Ninth Operations Unit — nicknamed the "Black Widows" (as it would be effectively translated into a term the _Program_ players would understand) by their allies and enemies alike for being an all-female unit and their success in tracking down and killing their targets — smiled as her own brown eyes twinkled in amusement. To Kyōichi and Kimie, she looked to be in her early twenties, possessing chestnut-red hair close-cropped at the neck. Like all members of the Corps, she was in a two-piece jumpsuit that reminded the Shiroiwa boys and the Kōbe girls of the Federation Starfleet uniforms that first appeared in _Star Trek II - The Wrath of Khan_ and the five movies that followed it…though Tulnba's uniform was a deeper brownish-red than the burgundy shade James T. Kirk and his shipmates wore. She also had high-calf black leather boots with knee shields, plus wore a white animal-fur string belt knotted many times around her waist. "Despite my friends and I being forced on this mission by Bujosur and Tarsur, finding the Sceptre of Lecasur and returning it to Vos would be something any of my people would happily engage in." She exchanged looks with her second-in-command and pe'cha, Lieutenant Kuinba. "However…"

"In all the years the Sceptre was in Vosian hands, it was never ONCE suspected that it was actually **_sentient_**!" Kuinba, a woman Tulnba's age with dark blue eyes and honey blonde hair she also wore very short, added. When she had been introduced, the lieutenant revealed that she was seen as something of an expert in the lore of the Sceptre of Lecasur. "And given what you just told us it really is…"

"An actual _**terraforming device**_?!" Tulnba breathed out in awe as she looked over to where Kawada Shōgo was now standing, using the Genesis Wand to levitate the Vosians' warp sloop off the ground so that the ship's engineers — aided by several of the Niphentaxian-turned-Avalonian friends of the Shiroiwa boys — could get the aft port landing strut repaired. "What happens if that device was used on a planet with life?"

Kyōichi wryly smirked. "It would destroy such life," he stated in a perfect imitation of Spock when he explained the power of the Genesis Torpedo to Jim Kirk and Leonard McCoy before the U.S.S. _Enterprise_ was attacked by the hijacked U.S.S. _Reliant_ under the command of Khan Noonien Singh. "In favor of its new matrix."

Both Vosian hunters paled on hearing that. "Oh, my God…!" Kuinba breathed out, stunned to hear that for almost two millennia, every President from Lecasur's time to the Mikado's time had literally held the power to destroy whole WORLDS in their very hand. "Why was this thing created?! Were there any controls on it?!"

"At the time it was created, no," Kyōichi stated. "However, in the brief time we had the Wand under our control — both in the initial period after Mai-san went into the Crystal Palace to obtain it and just now after Kimie-san and her classmates were restored to life — it did express a desire to not be used in such a manner that would bring harm to others." He sighed. "Atop that — despite our having two other such devices under our control to help us eventually restore all those who died in the _Program_ back to life and bring them to this dimension — it is the only one capable of actually moulding un-templated bioroid bodies into male format. So until we have everyone restored…"

"You'd be loath to let it go," Tulnba finished.

"Hai."

Both women exchanged looks. "Well, under normal circumstances, alien artefacts that can be restored to their original owners are to be returned back," Kuinba said. "But given the emotional significance of the Sceptre to my people…!"

"It's a symbol you can use to pull your people back together again," Kimie noted.

A nod. "Hai."

Both class representatives exchanged a look. "Well, let's not worry about that for the time being," Kyōichi proposed. "Right now, we have your co-workers to get back on their feet — and cleaned of their drug addictions, of course — and your ship to repair before we can concentrate on what to do next. Once we all can think straight without worrying about potential life-threatening issues distracting us, we can decide what to do then."

Tulnba and Kuinba exchanged knowing looks. Much that they were personally grateful to these people for getting them free of Bujosur's and Tarsur's control, they understood that these Terrans — and these kids were effectively Terrans despite their true genetic natures — were effectively marooned on the Planet of Shadows for the time being until whatever ship coming from Earth arrived to take them to their new home. Atop that, while these people had undergone something as ghastly as _The Program_ — trainers in the Special Hunter Corps, at least, went out of their way to ensure new hunters were given all the training they could absorb before exposing them to life-or-death situations even IF all of them had been effectively kidnapped by the government when they were just babies — so recently in their time-lines, they were still innocent civilians. While the desire to bring the Sceptre of Lecasur/Genesis Wand of Parah back to Vos was still strong in the hearts of all the Vosians now on the Planet of Shadows, not any of them — even the trained hunters of the Corps — wanted to bring harm to these kids.

"Agreed," Tulnba then stated with a nod of her head.

"Major!"

Everyone turned as a girl who — to Kyōichi and Kimie — looked _way_ too young to be a soldier in a war came up to join them. "What is it, Fanba?" the major asked.

Fanba smiled. "According to Captain Orinsur, the repairs to the landing strut will be done very soon," she stated. "After the ship's been put back down, he and Captain Cassur will perform a full inspection of the hull for other damage."

A nod. "Fair enough. It's good to see those two slackers actually be willing to help out for a change instead of staying in the rear like they normally do."

Kuinba laughed. "Lazy?" Kimie wondered.

"No, being unbelievably smart when it comes to surviving in the middle of a civil war. Especially when you're part of the shock troops," Kuinba stated as her eyes sparkled with mirth. Cassur and Orinsur — both Mensohn alumni as was Nassur before them and girls like Hinanba and Pamanba after them — had been pe'cha since well before they graduated from hunter's school. While both preferred NOT to go into the field to kill people — after all, if one did that, one also ran the risk of being killed in return — when sent on a mission, both were quite deadly in their own right; harm one and the other was all over the attacker like a nasty bout of Hifuto Syndrome. "Their idea of dealing with a serious threat is to 'advance backwards,'" the lieutenant added.

"Yeah!" Tulnba added with a chortle as both Terrans gaped in shock at them. "If someone was coming from the south, either of those two trench-waves would suggest going north — all the way around the PLANET — to come up behind them!"

Kyōichi and Kimie both exchanged looks as the two Vosian hunters laughed…

* * *

"**_AH-CHOO!_**"

"**_AH-CHOO!_**"

"Bless you!"

The two twenty-something men wearing rather plain and drab hunter's uniforms — the kill-belts around their waist not as knotted as some of the others the Terrans and Niphentaxians had met just now — working to repair the landing strut moaned as they wiped their noses on their sleeves. "Whoever could be talking about us?" one of them — a very handsome fellow by the standards of most hominoid races, possessing slightly bronzed skin indicative of Yehisrite ancestry, shaggy brown hair and dark green eyes; he had already attracted the attention of several of the Kōbe girls — asked.

"No doubt those who have always secretly admired us for our desire to remain alive and intact in the face of our race's rather violent fratricidal feud, old friend," his friend — a fellow of about the same age, though more muscular in body; he possessed military-cut raven-black hair and dark grey eyes peeking out of a face that looked to the Terrans to be hewn straight out of a mountain cliff — added as he applied a welding beam on the joint that had just been put back together again. "Amazing, isn't it?"

"They wouldn't respect us before now."

"They were too busy wanting to prove what didn't need to be proven."

Gazing at the two captains as they worked away at the landing strut, Fujino Shigeki could only shake his head in amusement. "Well, I will say this, Taii-tachi," he then declared as he moved to give them cups of tea spiced with sodium sulphate crystals. "Much that I personally was conditioned to despise your service and all you stood for as a whole given what the Mikado tried to do to Lum-sama years ago, your people are blessed to have such bright souls as you both to guide them to a better future."

Orinsur — he was the more handsome of the pair in Shigeki's eyes…though, of course, no man in the universe could possibly compare to his own wonderful Shō-sama! — perked on hearing that, and then he nodded as he took the tea and drank from it. "Many good thanks, dear sir," he said after finishing the tea, and then he turned his attention back to the strut as Cassur finished the welding job. "Wonderful tea."

"His people do have their many positive attributes, old bean," Cassur noted as he finished the weld before relaxing himself, nodding his thanks as Shigeki gave him some tea. "Lecasur noted that right at the start when he discovered their planet all those years ago." A shake of the head as he gave the younger man a sympathetic look. "It's a pity that your leaders didn't listen to that Ganzo fellow when he tried to influence them into better accepting the Avalonians." News concerning what Ganzo dai-Louc had done and tried to do since he helped uncover the bioroid factory on Phentax Twelve had been all over the various intergalactic news networks since the Avalonians had been liberated nearly a half-year ago. "If he had actually succeeded…"

"We might have been able to create our own society instead of always copying from others," Shigeki finished as his brown eyes twinkled with delight. "Then again, isn't that the story of every type of government? Once a routine's set in…"

"They don't want to change it," Orinsur noted as he moved to scan the strut with a tricorder. "Looks pretty okay now. Let's get it mounted."

"We should hurry," Cassur noted.

"Oh, take your time!" Shigeki stated.

"What of your friend with the Sceptre?" Orinsur asked.

Shigeki nodded over. Both Vosians looked…

…and then blinked owlishly on seeing the Genesis Wand of Parah/Sceptre of Lecasur **_floating_** in mid-air close to Kawada Shōgo while he was busy cuddling with Inoue Keiko. They then turned back to Shigeki. "As I said, take your time," the effeminate man noted with a smile before he took the tea cups, and then turned to head off to where the warp-sloop being used by the _Program_ players and their friends was now parked.

Cassur and Orinsur watched him go, and then they exchanged looks. "Do we really want to bring something like THAT back to Vos?" the latter wondered.

"Good point," the former mused. "Even if it IS the Sceptre…!"

"A _**planet-wrecking terraforming device**_ — with the same power as a _**Power Jewel**_ of all things! — is something NO Vosian should possess. Especially the Mikado."

"Agreed. Have any idea as to what to do about this?"

"Well, given what those Terran kids went through…"

Cassur scowled as his normally pale skin flushed with indignant fury as he recalled what their new friends had told them about their origins and how they came to be on the Planet of Shadows in the first place. Despite the way he and so many others had been "recruited" into the Special Hunter Corps — in the whole history of the service, there had only been **_three_** true volunteers in the Corps! — when they were children, he had been given as much training as possible in both unarmed and armed combat to survive whatever mission was demanded of him. The Terrans from another dimension had all been normal civilians, raised in a society ruled by a military dictatorship…and save for a basic weapons indoctrination course they participated in when they had entered that phase of their grade school education called "middle school," they had not been prepared to face something like _The Program_. Even if members of the Special Hunter Corps had been made to kill helpless civilians in the past — it was almost always a part of a trainee hunter's graduation exercise around Stop Time — it was something that most hunters, to Cassur's knowledge, didn't wish to _purposefully_ engage in.

"Yeah, that's true. Taking the Sceptre away from them when they still have over forty thousand boys to bring across the dimensional barriers and through time to now would be unnecessarily cruel," he said with a level of seriousness that would have made most of his co-workers think that Armageddon had just arrived. "Still, if news of our mission to find the Sceptre did get out on Vos while we were gone…"

"People on both sides would want it returned," Orinsur finished.

"And some might desire to have it back _immediately_."

"Which would bring us into conflict with the Terrans, the Avalonians…"

"And the Noukiites as well, old friend," Cassur reminded him. "Remember what they said about the delightful Lady K'ekhech and what she's doing now with the mother of that good fellow who dealt with that trench-wave Tarsur?"

Orinsur blinked. Like many of the Corps who had come here, he had been in Lecashuto that day six years ago when a Niphentaxian bio-bomb had been dropped on the city, killing five million people thanks to the Hifuto virus. And while there had been very tense relations between the Mikado's government and the government of the Dragon Empress of Noukiios at the time, it hadn't stopped She Who Speaks to Dragons from mustering a whole battalion of free warriors and medical specialists and going to Vos to help with disaster recovery efforts. While the Mikado himself had cowered from the Lady K'ekhech — the "spanking incident" of several months earlier, when the Dragonspeaker had come to Lecashuto to deliver the corpses of several Corps hunters who had "misbehaved" while in Noukiite space and personally punish the old hunter for "being silly," was an open secret to all members of the Corps — while she had been there, the rank and file personnel had been more than grateful for her kindness in bringing such aid even in the midst of a three decade-old civil war.

Thinking of the crimson-haired, brown-eyed free warrior from Ryekkyuk, Orinsur then blushed as he recalled how he had acted like a giddy grade school boy when they had been introduced. Cassur certainly didn't let him forget that fact; he had mercilessly teased his pe'cha about that for months afterward. _Then again_, he mused to himself as a knowing smirk crossed his face, _Cat-cha was no different_.

«Trench-wave!» Cassur mentally quipped; he had "heard" that through their bond.

«Love you, too.» Orinsur chimed back with a wink.

Both men chuckled as they went back to work…

* * *

Phentax Two, near Lumukyō…

"**_AH-CHOO!_**"

"Bless you, Venerable! Are you alright?!"

Kiriyama Kimiyo moaned as she moved to rub her nose. "Someone's talking about me!" she groaned before nodding her thanks as a Noukiite trooper handed her a handkerchief.

Hearing that, K'u-Seu Chusu-Mu Hechnich'-Kaechseu of Ait'uch Nehech smiled. He had heard of that belief amongst Terrans from Japan; its equivalent on Noukiios was a chilly flash in one's head-ridges. "Well, let's hope it's good talk," he stated as he moved to manipulate some of the nikuk' points on the Dragonspeaker's back; Kyech was now lying face-first on the same diagnostic bed Kimiyo had been placed on by the two gynoid nurses that had activated themselves on her awakening in her new body. Said nurses — along with a dozen sisters of theirs — had been removed from this storage place by a Noukiite salvage team. Members of that team were now moving to take all the remaining gestation chambers with their un-templated cargo so they could be returned to the Avalonians as soon as possible. "How does that feel, Kyech?"

A moan. "Much better," the Dragonspeaker mused as she moved to sit up and slip on her tunic. "Koruneko is very good in nikuk' manipulation, but you know me much better."

"So I do," Hichkai mused with a wry chuckle as he moved to pack away his medical bag. "What are your intentions right now, Kimiyo-hi?" he then asked Kazuo's mother.

A pained smile crossed the face of the once-dead wife of one of Shikoku's richest men. "Right now, make sure my son's alright…and then try to be his mother again after all the years we were 'separated.'" She made finger-quotes around that phrase with one hand; the other was still holding the Wand of Skaron. "Not to mention trying NOT to give into the urge to teleport myself back to my home dimension so I can throttle my husband for virtually ABANDONING poor Kazuo-chan like he did…"

The Noukiites all around her gave her sympathetic looks on hearing that. Like the Avalonians and their genetic cousins on Sagussa, Kyech's and Hichkai's people also viewed any sort of deliberate child abuse and child abandonment dimly. "Well, he'll certainly deserve whatever you do to him," the healer noted. "His son suffering from such a soul-damaging wound as what Kyech just described to me from what the _Euk Hisehek_ told her about your society…and nothing was done to make him comprehend what was right and what was wrong before he was forced into this _Program_." Even speaking of _**that**_ particular subject made Hichkai scowl. "It's good that his friends forgave him for what he elected to do when they faced that situation. He'll need friends."

Kimiyo smiled in turn. Through this "Dreamscape" that Avalonians as a whole could access so easily, she had got the chance to meet the members of her son's gang, not to mention their new lovers. While it bothered her in some aspects that her son had been the leader of such a gang back in Shiroiwa, that his friends were determined to stick to their "Boss'" side now filled her with such joy. _They'll need something of a mother figure now that they're all practically orphaned from their families — if they're still around — back in Shiroiwa_, she mused to herself. _Even if the society of the Home Islands in this universe seems so different than what we're used to…!_

"They will be happy."

She perked…before her cheeks reddened on seeing Kyech give her a very intensive stare from almost a half-metre away; _How on Earth can she MOVE like that?!_ she then wondered. Taking a moment to then consider what the Dragonspeaker just said, Kimiyo then sighed. "They still need an adult figure in their lives."

A nod. "True. And you will be that figure for them. As will Negako and Kaga."

Kazuo's mother blinked. "They are…?"

"Our Earth's first true artificial intelligence and her lover, who was once a magically-powered gynoid known more commonly as a 'steel angel,'" Kyech explained. "They live full-time at the place where Kazuo's female classmates are now going to live. As will Kazuo and his male classmates, not to mention their new friends from this world and those of Shōgo's classmates who have been revived to date."

The other woman nodded. She had been able to learn a lot about Kazuo's friends through the mental bond — a _shirei'cha_ bond as Avalonians called it — that started to form as soon as Kimiyo's son had sensed her through the Te'a. To believe that someone who had survived _The Program_ once had willingly gone through it a SECOND TIME…!

"Won't it be too much for their hosts?" Kimiyo then asked.

"The Moroboshi family is quite wealthy. They also have wealthy allies and friends who would gladly pitch in to help," Kyech stated. "Atop that, others in Tomobiki would be sympathetic to this whole situation. The story of _Battle Royale_ is well-known in the Japan of this universe even if it is normally seen as a work of fiction. And there are the very deep cultural and social mores shared between your Japan and the Japan here; the divergence of Fate between the two universes was a recent affair time-wise, so the 'culture shock' wouldn't be that profound." A nod. "All should be well."

"I hope so," Kimiyo breathed out. "Sensei, can I finally get out of this place?"

Hichkai smiled. "You have nothing to worry about, Venerable Lady Kimiyo. And I hope all goes well for you and your extended family when you reunite with your son." He then gave her the Noukiite left fist-in-right palm salute, bowing politely to her. "Heaven's most sincere blessings upon you and yours."

Kimiyo stood up from the table as she returned his bow with her own. As soon as the healer was off, her eyes then fell on the broken form of the Guardian who had tried to subdue her with the _haijo-ju_ now in her possession a few hours ago; the Noukiites who had come to this place had left the corpse where it had fallen. "Are there friends of his out there somewhere who might try to hurt us still?" she wondered.

"Possibly," Kyech mused. "We didn't know of his group until very recently." She then hummed. "It would be wise to go deal with them as soon as possible."

"How can we find them?"

The Dragonspeaker smirked as she reached over for the other woman's arm.

And in a flash of flame, they vanished from Phentax Two…

* * *

Tomobiki, an hour before midnight…

…to appear instantaneously on the lawn close to the Moroboshi Dōjō.

"**_HEY!_**" Kimiyo yelped before she looked around.

Footfalls then made her turn to the dōjō entrance, where a severe-looking woman about her physical age now stood. "Kyech," she said as her eyes focused on Kyech before she gazed on the Dragonspeaker's current companion. An eyebrow then arched in a manner that instantly reminded Kimiyo of something Spock often did on _Star Trek_. "Kiriyama Kimiyo, I presume," she stated with a cold, even voice despite the quirking smile tugging at her lips. "Mizuho informed me that you had been revived."

Kimiyo considered that for a moment, and then she sighed. "Negako-sensei?"

A nod. "I am she. I would prefer not to be addressed by that particular honorific, though," the grandmaster of Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū stated as she bade them to come inside. "I assume you obtained that device in your hand as soon as you awoke?"

"With Kazuo's help," Kyech stated as the two newcomers slipped off their footwear before bowing to the dōjō spirit, and then moved to sit in the middle of the training hall floor with Negako and Kaga. "The Guardians will need to be dealt with."

"So Hiromi is already planning," Negako noted as Kaga moved to prepare some tea; both had been relaxing and preparing themselves for the voyage to the Planet of Shadows when the Dragonspeaker and Kazuo's mother had arrived. "It is fortunate for us that Mizuho was able to become the controller of the Staff of Gihan. It has within its central consciousness all the relevant information concerning that group." She then gazed on the Wand of Skaron. "As I assume you would possess as well."

**_I came into the possession of that group more recently than the Staff of Gihan did, Moroboshi Negako_**, the Wand replied. _**My information will not be as extensive.**_

"Whatever can be gathered to deal with the cretins would be always welcome in our quest to rid the galaxy of such monsters," a strange voice then declared as footsteps heralded the arrival of a certain would-be warrior-priestess. "Greetings, Oba-san."

Kimiyo smiled as Inada Mizuho walked into the room, the Staff in one hand. "You should be resting, Mizuho," Negako warned. "We will not be leaving for at least two hours."

An embarrassed smile then crossed the younger woman's face as she knelt on the floor next to Kyech. "I cannot bring myself to sleep. Especially since I would be sleeping with your brother. If I tried, I would most likely surrender to my own deepest desires and make him take my maidenhead right then and there." As Kimiyo gaped in shock on hearing such an adult statement from a girl who was her son's age, Mizuho then added, "So we will try to sleep aboard the noble longship of the blood-children of the Víkingr during our voyage to the Planet of Shadows. Hopefully, Satomi, Ataru and I would be tired enough to not give into our passions while we are sharing a bed."

"Aren't you too young to consider something like that?" Kazuo's mother demanded.

Mizuho gazed at her. "When you were around our age, did you go to a 'We Survived _The Program_ Party' after you graduated from middle school, Oba-san?"

The older woman blinked before her cheeks reddened. "I did."

"And did you not allow yourself to let go totally in that party?"

The blush deepened. "I actually met Kazuo-chan's father at that party."

"Then why on Earth ask us to be celibate after actually _enduring_ that madness?" Mizuho then asked in a calm voice. "I realise that you would clearly wish us not to do things we might not be ready for, but Satomi and I — and in his own way, Ataru as well — were forced to grow up LONG before we should have. That means being forced to take on adult responsibilities. You have not endured what we endured these last few months, Oba-san. Yes, it is wonderful that Kazuo will have his mother back in his life. Yes, you'll be welcome to remain with us. But do not presume to judge us. You escaped _The Program_, Oba-san. We did not." And with that, she sipped the tea Kaga just handed her.

Kazuo's mother winced on sensing the accusatory tone in Mizuho's voice, and then she hung her head in shame. "It was so hard to try to make people see it," she confessed.

"Your husband tried to influence the government of the Republic to amend its policies concerning _The Program_," Negako stated as she gazed on the other woman.

A nod. "Hai. Kyōichi-kun's father is a member of the National Diet…but back home, it's just a rubber-stamp for the Central Committee and the Senior Chairman. They're the people who really run the Republic these days. Any attempts by anyone to make them back off about _The Program_…" A shake of the head. "Too many people are just too afraid of facing the goons of the NADA if the people in Tōkyō believe you're showing any sort of 'disloyal' thoughts towards anything the Republic does. _The Program_'s one of those things. And…" She shook her head.

Negako hummed as she considered that before gazing on Mizuho. "Perhaps when you feel the time is right, Mizuho, you might consider an attack on this Central Committee directly — not to mention all those who passionately support _The Program_ — when you and your peers decide to finally put a stop to all the killing," she proposed.

Mizuho considered that for a moment before nodding. "Perhaps…"

* * *

The V/g _Óðinn_, hovering over the Lögberg in Þingvellir National Park (thirty kilometres east-northeast of Reykjavík), that moment (local time: Two hours after lunch)…

"Elder Vilgerður, welcome aboard."

The smiling middle-aged woman — who, with her party, had just teleported herself onto the flight deck of the great longship that had been built to fly through the stars and represent the blood-descendants of the Víkingr in the mighty space army being assembled now under the command of the reborn Xiàolíng Emperor of the Hàn — nodded in turn as she grasped the Prime Minister's hand. "It is good to be here, Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir," the current Minister of Magic stated with a smile before she nodded to her aides to begin the proper magical proofing of the _Óðinn_ before the President would formally commission the ship into the Coast Guard.

Despite her looking human to normal eyes, Vilgerður Ríkarðsdóttir was actually one of the Álfar, the elf-like humanoids which formed one of several communities among the Huldufólk of Iceland. A gifted sorceress and a peer of the famous English arch-mage Albus Dumbledore, she had been her nation's first representative to the International Conference of Magical Communities when it had been formed from the total collapse of the human-centric International Confederation of Wizards thanks to two catastrophic magical wars that were fought parallel to World War Two. "It is a pity that neither the Xiàolíng Emperor nor the Earth Angel are here to officiate this," she then added as she looked around, her magical senses drinking in both the ancient magic that still flooded Þingvellir and the newborn life-magic emanating from the Rúm Englar now aboard the ship. "But then again, given the situation…"

"I found it hard to believe myself when the captain told me about it," the Prime Minister mused as Jóhanna Þorgilsdóttir came up to join them, accompanied by both Aron Henriksson and Martína Gloríönnudóttir. All three were in dress uniforms.

"About what?" the _Óðinn_'s captain wondered.

"_Battle Royale_," the Prime Minister stated.

Jóhanna scowled as a stormy look crossed Aron's faced and Martína shook her head. "I will say this right now, Madame Prime Minister; if Hiromi Muchisdóttir orders that we deploy to that other universe to deal with the monsters that started this whole _Program_ business, our ship will be going with them," the captain then vowed.

"Given what I know of this story — and what I sensed of the Vinur Drekar when she came to visit Iceland in her explorations of all the world's huldufólk — I suspect all the Úlfhéðnar will go with you," Vilgerður warned as a steely look crossed her face.

"The Úlfhéðnar?!" a strange voice then called out from nearby. "Interesting! That would rather make Mizuho's job much easier in the long run!"

"Don't steal all her fun, Xeno! Hello, Vilgerður!"

Everyone turned as Heather Thompkins came up, currently accompanied by her senior staff as well as Xenophilius Lovegood. "Heather Sergesdóttir! Xenophilius Philostratesson! How are you two?!" Vilgerður called out as she walked over to accept a friendly embrace from the British magical newspaper reporter, and then she grasped the hands of the Canadian rear admiral and supreme mugwump emeritus of the ICMC. "Oh, my! So they finally decided to add some gold onto those sleeves, eh?!" she declared on seeing the one looped stripe and the one very thick stripe on Heather's lower arm sleeves. "I always hated those blue stripes you were forced to wear back during the war."

"They did…even if Dean is cursing the blue streak over being forced to take off her regiment's badges when they made her the Master General of the Air Cavalry," Heather stated before she exchanged salutes with _Óðinn_'s senior staff.

"The War Hawks will be accompanying the _Óðinn_ to this Planet of Shadows," Xenophilius added, and then he hummed before a frown twisted his lips. "'Planet of Shadows?' What sort of silly name is that for a _**Dyson sphere**_ of all things?"

"We visited that place a couple years ago, Xeno," Heather said. "I think the nickname came from the fact that the place was as black as night when viewed from outside."

He considered that for a moment before nodding. "That's true."

"Have you actually met the Vinur Drekar, Xeno?" Vilgerður's chief aide asked.

The native of Devon smiled at the handsome tívar whom he once considered to be a good catch for his daughter. The Lovegoods first met Finnólfur Öndólfsson while they were on a magical creature expedition after Luna's sixth year at Hogwarts. Given the Lovegood family's frank acceptance of all sorts of things that most British magicals would find disagreeable or just impossible to believe, they had always been welcomed with open arms by the Huldufólk. Luna and Finnólfur dated after she had graduated from Hogwarts in 1999, but fears towards a potential xenophobic backlash against a marriage between one of the heroes who had stood up against Voldemort and one of the Huldufólk quashed any progression past being "friends with benefits." "Luna has, Finn. Her name is Inada Mizuho; 'Mizuho Shinjisdóttir' would be her name with patronymic here. Quite charming…though Luna told me that after having spent some time with Mizuho, she's come to realise how baffled her peers back at Hogwarts were with her!"

Laughter escaped all the people there, even the non-magicals. "Well, it wasn't your daughter's fault that others couldn't see what she can," the Icelandic minister of magic noted as she winked playfully at him. "In the meantime, where is…ah!"

Everyone turned as the quiet hum of impulse jets echoed through the skies, heralding the arrival of the _Huginn_ with the President of Iceland aboard…

* * *

Back on the Planet of Shadows…

"Is she going to be alright?"

Pamanba blinked on hearing that, and then she smiled. "Well, whatever Shōgo-san did for her seems to have helped a lot," she admitted as she allowed her tricorder to scan the sleeping Hinanba. Also in the ship's medical station at this time was another of Bujosur's old harem of young hunters, Ryōnba; her hand was being held by her pe'cha Kanba as she rested up from her brief exposure to the intensive brainwave patterns of one Ieyoshi Chikako. Said girl from Kōbe was seated beside the desk nearby; Tomoe was currently helping with the repairs of the Vosian warp-sloop. "Once she sees that she isn't trapped by the cardiac band, she'll be a lot nicer. Though…"

"Pama-…cha…?"

Pamanba perked, and then she leaned over her friend's face as Hinanba's hazel eyes opened. "Hey! Welcome back, Hina-cha," she whispered as Kanba walked over to join them, though she still held onto Ryōnba's hand. "How do you feel…?"

A moan. "Slight headache…hungry, too…where am I…?"

"We're aboard the Niphentaxians' ship," Kanba reported, which made Hinanba's eyes widen. "But they're not so bad. Look at your left arm."

The dazed hunter blinked, and then she lifted her arm to bring her wrist into view. Seeing the pale skin where a cardiac band had been, Hinanba gaped. "How…?"

Pamanba sighed. "Well, it's like this…"

The explanation took about five minutes. At the end of it, Hinanba breathed out as she moved to sit up. "So the Sceptre of Lecasur actually came from the planet the **_Maidens of the Eternal Voyager_** live on these days?" she asked as Kanba and Pamanba helped her up. She then jolted on seeing Chikako there. "Um…"

"It's alright," Pamanba assured her. "Like I just told you, she's been through something quite similar to what we just went through. She's the one who actually told the Sceptre's current controller to get rid of the cardiac bands."

Hinanba gaped. "You did?!"

"Hai, I did. And I'm sorry about nearly frying your brains out when Tomoe-chan told me to drop my mind-shields," the young lady from Kōbe said with a bow of her head, and then she smirked. "Then again, you were trying to sneak up on us."

Hinanba considered that before she sighed. "Yeah, that's true," she admitted before shrugging. "Still, you gotta admit, Niphentaxians aren't really popular on Vos these days." She made a face on remembering the mountains of diseased bodies she had to help cremate after the bio-bomb attack. "When we saw your ship close to the Palace, we were afraid that you were going to steal the Sceptre on us for that trench-wave Ōgi."

The Terran-turned-Avalonian woman blinked. "Who?"

The three Vosian hunters gazed at her, and then Kanba sighed. "Well, that sure proves it to me," she admitted. As Hinanba gazed quizzically at her, the blonde hunter added, "The whole thing about Chikako-cha and her friends coming from another dimension and back in time. I'm sure with the Avalonians now on Earth, they would know about Ōgi."

"Who is this Ōgi?" Chikako asked again.

"You explain it to her," Pamanba advised her friend. "I'm going to the heads."

The others nodded. As she stepped out of the medical station, Pamanba headed forward; when she had been allowed to come aboard so she could keep a close eye on Hinanba and Ryōnba, Takeshi Mai had shown her around. Getting to the washroom, she relieved herself, and then made her way down to the small galley. She tried not to shiver too much on NOT sensing the brainwave patterns of the Avalonians aboard the ship at this time; to most Vosians, being in a place that was known to be inhabited by sentient beings yet not being able to SENSE said sentient beings seemed quite unnatural. _Wonder how all the people who deal with the Yehisrites handle that sort of thing_, she wondered as she walked into the galley to prepare a cup of tea before relaxing in a chair.

"Ah! Pamanba-chan! How are you, darling?!"

She smirked on hearing that loud, passionate voice. "Much better now that Hina-chan's awake and recovering, Shō-kun," she admitted as Tsukioka Shō moved to sit across from her; it had been quite easy to learn the standard Japanese honorifics as Vosian honorifics tended to sound quite similar. "What's the news from Cassur-sempai and Orinsur-sempai?"

"The landing strut Yoshio-kun wrecked is almost repaired," he answered. "Once that's done, Tomoe-chan will help in surveying what internal damage is there. Hopefully by that time, whatever ship is coming from Earth will arrive to pick us up."

She blinked. "They're THAT fast?!"

A shrug. "Honestly, I don't know. Hiromi-sempai — that's Moroboshi Hiromi, the leader of the Earth Defence Force — didn't want to pass on details when we contacted her using the Genesis Wand and the Staff of Gihan." At her surprised look, he winked. "She was afraid of eavesdroppers. Hard as it might seem to most people who don't understand the Te'a and the Dreamscape…" A sigh. "Then again, there were two dozen _haijo-ju_ created on Sagussa before the War of Clone Rights. We know of three of them: The Staff of Gihan Mizuho-chan has now, the Genesis Wand of Parah — the Sceptre of Lecasur to you — and the Wand of Skaron that Kazuo-kun's mother now possesses. Where are the others?"

She nodded. "That's being smart." A sip of the tea. "Can I ask you something?"

"Kazuo-kun?"

Pamanba jerked as she stared wide-eyed at Shō. "How…?"

"Empathy," he confessed. "One of the many gifts becoming an Avalonian gives me." He then sighed. "Much that I understand why you'd want to get away from Vos given how you got drafted into your service — our friends explained it all to us — but aren't you worried about any relatives that might be back home? Parents or siblings?"

She sighed. During the trip to the Planet of Shadows, she discovered that Cassur had a younger brother — Kilsur, a classmate of Fanba's and Shanba's and a current boyfriend of sorts of Rinba's — in the crew. And while such discoveries were quite heartening when they were made, they were also grossly frowned upon by the Mikado's subordinates. In the eyes of the Special Hunter Corps' leadership, hunters like they were the Mikado's adopted children whose loyalty had to be to him and only him. Naturally, to make sure Bujosur — or especially Tarsur — wouldn't do anything to cause them pain, Pamanba had relayed that news to Cassur and Kilsur in private. "Well, to be frank with you, I was almost on the verge of deserting when Bujosur pressed me into this mission. I wanted to find out if my parents were still alive; no matter how much people like me have tried over the years, that information has always been kept top secret."

"Prevents split loyalties," he said with a knowing look. "Well, I don't…"

"Shō!"

Both spun around as Sasagawa Ryūhei ran in. "What is it?!" Shō demanded.

"Yoshio just picked up a ship coming in through the main gate!" the blond member of Kazuo's gang reported. "A motherfuckin' HUGE one! We're passing the word!"

He then ran out. Shō and Pamanba exchanged looks, and then they rose…

* * *

The pilotage…

"The landing strut is strong enough to support the ship's weight, Shanba?"

"Yes, Kazuo-kun," Shanba responded from the bridge of the Vosian warp-sloop. In the background, people were running about as Tulnba took the central chair to take charge. "Shōgo-kun just put the ship down now. We're getting everyone inside now."

Kazuo — once more in the central chair — nodded. "What are you scanning, Yoshio?"

"Whatever it is, Kazuo-san, it's _**gargantuan**_!" Akamatsu Yoshio stated. "Length 7,412 metres. Width of man hull 875 metres. Overall wingspan 6,810 metres; she folded her wings against the main hull to pass through the main gate. Overall height 1,640 metres. Total mass estimated at just a little over TWO BILLION TONNES!" A grey pallor then crossed his face. "And it has weapons to match that size," he added.

The others on the bridge paled on hearing that. "Mai, what's the largest known vessel from our part of the galaxy?" Kazuo then asked Takeshi Mai.

Mai breathed out. "Technically, the largest vessel known to us is the Gatherer; the ship commonly called the 'Eternal Voyager,'" she added on seeing Pamanba come onto the bridge with Shō, followed by Hinanba; the latter was helped by Chikako. "Whatever Yoshio-kun is detecting isn't the Voyager; that ship is over TEN kilometres in length."

"Locals?" Tulnba asked from her own ship's pilotage.

A shrug. "Possibly, Shōsa-san. I have to admit, we haven't taken much of…"

"Incoming signal!"

Heads snapped over to the communications station. "The newcomer?" Kazuo asked.

Honda Hitomi nodded as she reached up to the Bluetooth-like earpiece that reminded all the _Program_ players of the same type fo device Nyota Uhura wore when she was manning the main communications station on the bridge of the U.S.S. _Enterprise_. "Hai. And…" She then shook her head. "They're transmitting in _Japanese_, Kazuo-kun!"

Everyone gaped. "On screen," Kazuo then bade.

Hitomi nodded as she tapped a control. Eyes shifted over as the main view screen then flickered before it revealed a circular pilotage manned by humanoid people in silver jumpsuits with a eye-catching mosaic of colours on their chest that were shaped similar to the heads and necks of wild horses. In obvious command of this group was a blonde, blue-eyed woman appearing to be in her late teens, possessing a small grove of bony ridges on her forehead similar to what most Noukiites possessed.

"Greetings," she stated in almost accent-less Japanese…without the need of a visible translator, Kazuo was quick to see. "I am Stari, shiplady of the Nagussan Defence Force Starship _Ganshiki_," she declared with a voice that was quite indicative of a very harsh level of emotional control. "May I inquire as to why people with obvious **_Sagussan_** genetic ancestry are currently on the Planet of Shadows?"

People exchanged looks. "Just like fuckin' Tōkyō Station…!" Shōgo — who just came onto the bridge — muttered as he moved to pull Keiko protectively closer to him…

******_To be continued…_**

* * *

**WRITER'S NOTES**

1) The **Übermenschen Gruppe** (literally "Group of Overmen" or "Group of Supermen") mentioned at the start of this part are this universe's analogue of the Axis metahuman group **Axis Amerika** that appeared in the _Young All-Stars_ comic series published by DC Comics in the late 1980s. Like Axis Amerika, the Gruppe's primary task was to strike directly at North America to disrupt the Allies' efforts at winning the Second World War, especially when it came to the sheer industrial power the United States mobilised after 1941. Defending against the Gruppe were two primary teams of Allied metahumans, the American-led **Liberty Legion** — in essence, this universe's analogue to the **All-Star Squadron** — and the Canadian **War Hawks** (**1st Canadian Specialised Warfare Unit** [**1 CSWU**]). The primary difference between the Legion and the War Hawks is that the American team were all civilian crime-fighters — "mystery-men," to borrow the phrase used in this time period — while the Canadian troop were all trained soldiers.

The Gruppe's sponsor and effective creator, as noted here, was **Josef Wilhelm _Freiherr_ von Taserich**. He is an immortal — though not of the _Highlander_ type, who could be killed by decapitation — and is often seen as the first true master of ebony mesonium. His birth-name is unknown to this day; the name he is known by is the Prussian noble name he assumed during the years that kingdom existed on the southeast corner of the Baltic Sea. He was quite older than his "son," **Hosan Hirosuke**, having lived at least ten thousand years when Hosan — who has often been mentioned in my fanfic stories such as _Lonely Souls_ — himself was born five thousand years ago. While his fate post-World War Two is a mystery, it is believed he is alive. Taserich's blood — as Hosan's as well — is filled with crystals of ebony mesonium that effectively made him immortal. He is notorious amongst magicals and other mystics on Earth for allowing other people to be injected with ebony meson into their blood stream to give them metahuman powers. As stated in my other works such as _The Icemaidens and the Philosopher's Stone_, direct exposure to ebony meson will — if one does not have sufficient mental guards (such as a mastery in Legilimency) or has a strong will — drive someone totally insane.

2) Translations: **Rittmeister** — Literally "Ride Master," an old German cavalry title for an army captain (NATO rank code OF-2); **Freiherr** — Literally "Free Lord," a German noble title, equivalent to a British count (those given this title or its cognates are permitted to put the **von** ["of" or "from"] prefix honorific before their family name); **Tensei-ryū** — School of Heaven's Star, the effective "father-school" of both **Saikō Jinseijutsu-ryū** ("School of the Path of the Supreme Life")…and in the universe of this story, **Musabetsu Kakutō-ryū** ("School of Indiscriminate Grappling") from _Ranma 1/2_; **Žar-ptjcja** — Literally "heat bird" or "ember bird," the Slavic version of a phoenix which is often seen as a symbol of both blessing and doom to those who seek to capture it; **Ch'ehek** — Literally "Province-Planet," this is the Noukiite suffix title that is often applied to all planets it claims outside the home solar system; **Anquietas** — The true name of the **Ancients** (the creators of the Stargate system) from the _Stargate_ series; **Ha'tak** — Goa'uld pyramid-shaped starship; **Shōsa** — Navy lieutenant commander/Army major/Air Force squadron leader (NATO rank code OF-3); **Taii** — Navy lieutenant/Army captain/Air Force flight lieutenant; **Nikuk'** — Noukiite version of shiatsu; **-hi** — Standard Noukiite suffix honorific, equivalent to "-san" in Japanese; **Euk Hisehek** — Short for **Euk Hichheksuch Seuchhoukhek** ("King of the World of Holy Reincarnation"), which is the Noukiite title applied to Moroboshi Ataru as **Daite'cha** ("First Citizen") of Sagussa; **Víkingr** — Vikings; **Lögberg** — Law Rock; **Þingvellir** — Parliamentary Plains; **Rúm Englar** — Space Angels (the Icelandic nickname for the Avalonians); **Vinur Drekar** — Friend of Dragons.

3) The phrase **Lunar Therianthrope** is one I came up with for my _Icemaidens_ stories to serve as a "politically correct" term for various werebeasts such as werewolves ("lunar canine therianthropes") or weretigers ("lunar feline therianthropes"). The term "therianthrope" comes from two Greek words, _therion_ ("wild animal") and _anthrōpos_ ("human being").

4) The original version of the battle between the Dragonspeaker and **Apophis** of the Goa'uld can be seen at the Anime Addventure as an element of my _Restart Deluge: The Emperor's Army_ storyline, in episode #234581, "Hands Through The Stargate."

5) _The Senior Year_ character notes: The senior crew of the starship _Ganshiki_ — **Stari**, **Shan**, **Keri**, **Tsuri** and Kaeru's girlfriend **Naromo** — all appeared in "My Darlings United"; **Orinsur** and **Cassur** (both created by Robert Geiger) appeared in "Final Hymn"; and both **Kilsur** and **Kuinba** appeared in "Lufy's Quest."

As an aside, the modern **Nagussans** are a mosaic-type race like the modern **Sagussans** are. The **Hiyaken** are people who appear to be a cross between Noukiites and Klingons. The **Tanana** are Oriental-type humanoids. And the **Aojiroi** are statuesque people with very clear complexions which would make people from Earth think of very artistic porcelain dolls.

By the way, the **Majujjou** are a race of powerful humanoid mystics with the ability to teleport themselves over vast intergalactic distances; in "My Darlings United," Kaeru actually mistook **Cherry** as one!

6) **Qetesh** was first mentioned in the _Stargate SG-1_ eighth season episode "Prometheus Unbound." As fans of the series will know, she had once possessed Daniel Jackson's frequent sparring partner and later co-worker **Vala Mal Doran**. While it was believed that in the mainstream timeline of the series, Qetesh had been killed off by the Tok'ra, it was never confirmed.

7) **Ryekkyuk** is the Noukiite analogue of **P'yŏng'yang** in North Korea. In essence, this great and ancient city is the spiritual cradle of modern Noukiite civilisation; the first world-wide government formed on that planet five millennia ago — referred to these days as the **Ait'uch Nehech** Dynasty — was founded there.

8) **Hichkai** (**K'u-Seu Chusu-Mu Hechnich'-Kaechseu** of Ait'uch Nehech) is based on the _Koihime Musō_ version of **Kada Genka**, which is the Japanese name applied to the famous healer **Huá Tuó** (circa 140-208 C.E.). The _KM_ version of Kada — unlike the female characters, he does not have a "personal" name — first appeared in the fifth episode of _Shin-Koihime Musō_, "Kakuka and Teiiku Come Into Sōsō's Service."

9) For a country that is as modern as one can be, Iceland is populated by people who are remarkably superstitious about a lot of things…which is understandable for a nation that had been effectively isolated from the outside world until very recently. While many Icelanders would be loath to admit it up front, the vast majority of them believe there are **Huldufólk** — this term literally means "hidden folk" — out there. Amongst such beings include the **Álfar** (elves) and **Tívar** (mountain spirits). There are people in Iceland who go forth to ensure that construction projects do not disturb places where the Huldufólk happen to live; it is seen as VERY bad luck to disturb such places.

Of course, given the mixed-universe situation of this story — with the influence of both the _Harry Potter_ and _Negima_ universes here — the term "Huldufólk" effectively represents all the magical beings native to Iceland.

10) Please read _Wizards and Avalonians_ to better understand the sheer impact of the two magical wars mentioned here that paralleled World War Two and ended up forcing the **International Confederation of Wizards** to evolve into the **International Conference of Magical Communities** (**ICMC**) in 1946.

11) The **Úlfhéðnar** — the name indicates that these people wore wolf pelts over their bodies — were one of the many group of **berserkers** that appear in ancient Scandinavian tales. Berserkers were Norse warriors who were reported to be able to fight in an uncontrollable, trance-like fury that rendered them almost next to unstoppable in battle. In the context of the universe of this story, the Úlfhéðnar — the singular term is **Úlfhéðinn** — serve as the nation's special corps of magical warriors, whose primary mission is to protect the Huldufólk from outside invasion.

12) As _Harry Potter_ fans will all know, **Xenophilius Lovegood** is Luna's father and the publisher of the family news magazine, _The Quibbler_. Known to his friends as "Xeno," this man — who first appeared in _Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows_, though he had been mentioned as early as _Goblet of Fire_ — is just as eccentric as his daughter.

Of course, the name of Xeno's father has not been revealed in the novel series — I don't particularly care for the **Pottermore** website that just came out recently — so I dipped into one of the sources Mrs. Rowling used to name her characters: William Shakespeare's _A Midsummer Night's Dream_ (first written around 1596-1600). **Philostrate** is the Master of the Revels at the court of **Theseus** in this play.


End file.
